Rosicrucian Principles For The Home and Business - H. Spencer Lewis

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES
FOR THE HOME AND

BUISNESS
21st Century Edition
by H. Spencer Lewis
1929, 1953, 1981 and 2015 Supreme Grand Lodge Of The

Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis. All Rights Reserved.
This publication is for your personal, private use only, and may not
be used for any commercial purpose. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, distributed, displayed, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without the express and prior written permission of Supreme Grand
Lodge Of The Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. For permission
requests, please contact: Supreme Grand Lodge Of The Ancient And
Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, Inc., Rosicrucian Park, 1342 Naglee Ave,
San Jose, California 95191.
The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis,
without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the
preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall
have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or
damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the
information contained in this book.
DEDICATED
To the student of all natural and

spiritual laws who remembers
that Great Master Jesus
taught the first lessons
in the art of living
a practical and
useful life.
CONTENTS
1.
Preface
2.
Introduction
3.
The Truth About Affirmations
4.
The Cosmic and You
5.
Mental Alchemy
6.
Commanding Cosmic Help
7.
Securing Money
8.
The Attainment of Wealth
9.
Seeking Employment
10. Impressing Others

11. An Unusual Help in Need
12. The Law of Compensation
13. Attracting Customers
14. The Skeleton in the Closet
15. The Round Table
PREFACE
to the 21st Century Edition
Rosicrucian Principles for the Home and Business was first published in
1929, and given the major business troubles of that fateful year, this
new book could not have been more timely as it guided its readers
through the tumultuous depression years of the 1930s. H. Spencer
Lewis enlightened advice for those involved in the world of business
proves to be as relevant today as it was then.
Although business conditions have changed greatly since 1929, the
principles behind good business practice remain the same. They are
as timeless as the laws of human nature. The chapters of this book
are actually specific and practical lessons in the application of certain
mystical and natural laws.
While the basic concepts presented here are as true today as they
were then, some of the examples, phrases, and references in the original
edition do not fully address themselves to todays fast-paced world of
business and finance. For example, many of todays businesses are
owned, guided, and managed by women as well as men; credit is much
more accessible now than in the past; and todays business climate is
much more open and diverse than it was in 1929. In fact, this important
book undoubtedly contributed to the more open and honest business
environment of today. For all these reasons it was vitally important
that H. Spencer Lewiss timeless concepts for the home and business
be brought into the context of the twenty-first century.
Therefore, our purpose in revising this Rosicrucian Classic is to
make it more comprehensive for todays readers. Leaving the books
basic message intact, we have clarified and updated information, while
ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

providing more contemporary and relevant examples for twenty-firstcentury readers. And though we cant be sure of this, we would like to
think that this is the book H. Spencer Lewis would have written if he
were alive today.
We would like to take this opportunity to define the word cosmic
as it is used throughout this book. Some of our readers may not
be familiar with this term. To Rosicrucians, the Cosmic represents
the totality of natural, universal, and spiritual laws by which Divine
Intelligence expresses itself throughout Creation. Consequently, we
are all permanently united to that Intelligence and we possess it in the
innermost part of ourselves.
We hope readers will enjoy and value this new edition of an age-old
classic.
Robin M . Thompson, Editor .
INTRODUCTION
How This Book Came About
OR MANY YEARS prominent business people in New York

other cities sought out Rosicrucian Imperator Spencer Lewis
as their advisor in special business matters. Even before H.
Spencer Lewis founded the American branch of the Rosicrucian
Order, AMORC, and became its chief executive, his astute business
acumen and excellent understanding of human psychology made him
an invaluable asset on many business teams. His unusual ability to sense
conditions intuitively, his ready contact with the minds of others and
with the universal mind of the masses, plus his extraordinary ability to
direct or engineer the successful manifestation of the most involved
and difficult plans, attracted the attention of important people in the
business world. H. Spencer Lewis soon became the silent partner
in many corporations and organizations, accepting only donations
toward the great work of AMORC as his compensation. Wherever
he traveled on behalf of his work for AMORC, people in business
sought him out for brief, yet invaluable, consultations; and it became
notable that whenever H. Spencer Lewis gave his approval to a plan
and indicated that he would use his special methods to bring the
matter to a conclusion, there was eminent success.
After a number of Better Business Bureaus, boards of trade, business
guilds, clubs, and associations had invited H. Spencer Lewis to speak
at their weekly or monthly sessions, he was asked to prepare a series
of talks to be delivered to one of the largest assemblies of business
people ever organized to hear a series of lectures about the mystical
principles involved in good business, or business for the good of all.

These lectures enabled those attending to achieve such phenomenal
success in their personal and business affairs that reports of the results
spread throughout the country, from city to city, and from one person
to another.
Meanwhile, in the years following the establishment of the
Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, in America, hundreds of members who
had become familiar with the advanced ethical and mystical principles
taught by the Order, petitioned AMORCs officers for more detailed
information about how they could put the Rosicrucian teachings and
principles to work in their business affairs. After all, Rosicrucianism,
as presented by AMORC throughout the world today, is a practical
philosophy, a science of demonstrable laws. And Rosicrucians have always
been practical individuals, working with natures laws for the sole
purpose of improving their own and others lives here on Earth, now.
According to the Rosicrucian ideal, each person should attempt, by
every means ethical, moral, and cosmically approved, to succeed in
life, to enjoy health, happiness, material comforts and the comforts
of physical existence, and to attain spiritual peace and attunement. In
fact, Rosicrucians have ever held that to truly fulfill the mission of
our existence here on Earth, and thereby carry out the Divine Will,
we should neither slight nor negate the material or worldly obligations
that are incumbent upon all of us, but should meet them, master
them, and make an eminent success of our earthly life. This, say the
Rosicrucians, will bring us more truly in contact with the universal laws
of nature and attune us more consciously with the universal scheme
of things, rather than living a life of speculative abstraction or spiritual
monasticism.
As examples to Rosicrucians, all of the great avatars and teachers of
the past have devoted the larger part of their lives to the application
of knowledge for the alleviation of suffering, the advancement of
learning, the promulgation of science, and the achievement of worldly
happiness and prosperity. Each has left a legacy to humanity through
intimate contact with the problems of daily life and through their
association with men and women struggling to live better and more
exemplary lives.

None of these cosmic messengers ever lost the human touch,
the companionship with their earthly brothers and sisters, nor the
opportunity to work out, in a material way, the solution to humanitys
actual physical problems.
Therefore, it was natural that students of the Rosicrucian teachings
would become imbued with this practical and humanitarian way of life
and would seek more information about how they could solve their
problems and better live and prosper in todays world. The organization
expectedeven anticipatedthis need, and through publishing
Rosicrucian Principles for the Home and Business, the Rosicrucian Order
has demonstrated its unique and distinct place in the lives of humans
by providing answers to profound questions regarding the successful
pursuit of health, happiness, and peace.
This book is the result of hundreds of requests that came to
Rosicrucian headquarters from all over the United States and Canada
asking that the original business lectures presented by H. Spencer
Lewis be reproduced in print so that Rosicrucians and the public could
have ready access to them. The lectures were so popular that several
business magazines of the time offered to serialize the lectures in their
publications, and book publishers likewise offered sizable sums of
money for the exclusive right to commercialize the lectures. It was
decided, however, by H. Spencer Lewis himself, that in keeping with
the ideals of AMORC, instead of allowing corporate publishers to
issue and sell these lecture-lessons at great profit, AMORC would
publish this invaluable material in a book to be made available to
Rosicrucians and the public alike for a reasonable price with a nominal
profit, which profit would be used to further AMORCs important
work in the world.
Rosicrucian Principles for the Home and Business resulted from this
decision. The original lectures given by H. Spencer Lewis have been
augmented, revised, and extended to fit the book format. None of
the private teachings of the Rosicrucian Order are presented in their
fullness, but every mystical method is utilized. In fact, the principles
presented in this book were extracted from hundreds of AMORC
s lessons that deal with numerous other vital matters, such as the
10

development of latent abilities, the awakening of dormant talents, and
the building up of such functions as intuition, mental creation, and
healing powers that enable Rosicrucian students to master their lives
and succeed in being healthy, prosperous, and happy. Therefore, for
Rosicrucians the information presented in this book will build on the
knowledge they are already studying in the Rosicrucian monographs,
while all our readers will find the information presented here to be
most beneficial, constructive, and applicable in their lives.
Most people in todays business worldespecially those who are
likely to become students of the Rosicrucian teachingsare in business
because they enjoy its activities, seek to contribute to the worlds
progress, and desire to meet their obligations, fulfill their duties, and
carry on with their mission in life while enjoying sufficient prosperity
to be able to help others as well as to help themselves. Surely, no higher
motive can actuate any being in any endeavor or aspiration.
These persons deserve to succeed, for their success and prosperity
in the world of business not only helps them, it also helps their families
and associates, their communities, and the economy and society in
general. For these reasons, the Rosicrucian Order is happy to aid and
guide, to the best of its ability, our members and friends in attaining
success in life and in business. We are pleased that thousands have
enjoyed increased happiness and success in business and in life due
to the application of the important principles explained in this book.
11
Chapter 1
THE TRUTH ABOUT

AFFIRMATIONS
Whatever you may have read or learned about affirmations should
be set aside if you would succeed with the instructions given in these
lessons . . . and you will soon find that you have contacted a new
world of possibilities and a new life of realities.
HE FRENCH PSYCHOLOGIST, mile Cou, did

not introduce anything new into the American popular
misunderstanding of psychological principles when
promulgated his attractively worded affirmation, Every day in every
way I am getting better and better. In the West generally, the value or
usefulness of affirmations to affect ones physical, mental, or material
conditions has been greatly misunderstood, and the same may be said
of the real fundamentals of applied psychology.
In the East, those long familiar with the mystical laws of life, are
quite aware of the fact that the mere affirmation of wealth or health
will not bring these desirable things into the environment where they
do not already exist. The real mystics of every land, and especially
those who have been thoroughly trained in the Rosicrucian principles,
know that certain affirmations under certain conditions have some
value and a real place in the scheme of things, however they also know
that an untrue or unsound affirmation is not only valueless, but really
detrimental.
12

How can the affirmation: I am in perfect health and in complete
attunement with God, have any effect upon the physical condition
of a person who, at the very moment of making the affirmation, is
suffering from pain, due to some diseased or abnormal condition? Pain,
as we shall see later on in another chapter, is not something that should
be affirmed out of existence as a condition unwarranted by nature and
unauthorized by God. It is one of Gods own creations and a perfectly
natural thing when the body is diseased, or in some abnormal physical
or mental condition. Pain always has a cause for its existence and a
reason for its manifestation. The cause may be unnatural; it generally is
unnecessary. Yet pain as a result of disease is perfectly logical, natural,
and a divinely authorized principle.
To affirm, therefore, that one has no pain when pain is quite
manifest, is attempting to deny the existence of something that not
only logically exists, but which has a good purpose for its existence
and a motive which will serve us and help us if we simply realize it.
Therefore, not pain, but the cause of the pain should be considered
as the undesirable condition to be relieved. Nevertheless disease, or
any abnormal condition of the mind or body, cannot be relieved by
affirming its nonexistence.
Poverty and failure in business and material affairs cannot be altered
by the affirmation that these conditions do not exist and are only
imaginary things, to be swept out of the consciousness and cleansed
out of the mind by a denial that they exist. For a person who seeks
relief from debt and solicits the Cosmics aid in having an abundant
supply of necessities, to affirm that I am not in debt, and I have the
riches of the Cosmic at my disposal, is merely to attempt to blind the
consciousness to the existing conditions and to so charm the objective
mind by a false picture of imaginary conditions that, for the time being,
all effort to relieve the situation in the proper way is cast aside. In this
attitude of self-induced confusion, one can believe that all is well and
that there is no need for effort or even thought in any other direction.
The person who has become a drug addict, and who shuts out the
worries, trials, and problems of the hour by inducing sleep, or the
stimulus of a flighty imagination, with glorious pictures of wealth and
13

contentment, is no less a victim to a false practice than someone who
affirms the nonexistence of real conditions and proclaims the actual
existence of imaginary bounties.
As may be judged by the foregoing remarks, mystics who are truly
familiar with the laws of nature and the operation of cosmic methods
know that personal control over their own affairs and the use of their
will to regulate conditions must be directed toward changing the causes
of conditions rather than denying the manifestations of these causes.
The misundemanding regarding affirmations came about through a
mis-comprehension of the Eastern and mystical conceptions of the
fundamental laws of psychological consciousness.
True mystics know that it is wrong and unsound to admit outwardly
or inwardly the existence of a condition that is not real. Mystics will
not accept that they must continue to suffer pain or suffer from disease
or suffer from poverty or the lack of necessities. They will even go so
far as to deny these things the power to enslave them. Mystics are
quite positive in their negation of the omnipotent power assigned to
material things of their earthly life to control their lives and to limit the
enjoyment of cosmic blessings. But mystics deny these things and rule
them out of life, not by affirming that the manifestations do not exist,
but by affirming that these things shall not continue to be and are not
what they seem to be, and must submit to their will.
In later chapters, we shall see that just as pain is a natural result
of a cause, so poverty and a lack of the necessary things of life, or
even lifes luxuries, are the result of a cause, and the cause must be
discovered and changed.
When one suffers from the agonizing pains of toothache, it is
indeed foolhardy and entirely inconsistent with cosmic and natural law
to affirm: I have no toothache and am at peace with the universe.
Such an affirmation neither affects the toothache as a pain, the cause
of the toothache and its pain, nor anything else concerned therewith.
Nor does it bring about any substantiating proof that the sufferer is,
at the time, at peace with the universe. The practical mystic who
does not dwell in the clouds of hypothetical postulations and ethereal
speculations based upon theories promulgated by eminent founders
14

of various schools of thought knows that he or she must direct the
use of will power and the magnificent creative forces of mind to the
immediate alteration of the condition which is the real cause of the
pain in the tooth, thereby relieving the pain without giving it any undue
consideration in a negative sense.
The mystic thus informed brings his or her suffering to an end and
quickly demonstrates that one can be at peace with the universe, and
truly a child of Gods love, by reestablishing harmonium in the body
through removal of the cause of disease and suffering.
The individual who is without the immediate necessities to meet a
material emergency of financial or any other form will find that the
affirmation of I need have no concern, for the abundant supply is
mine, brings no relief and simply inhibits as well as prohibits such
action on the part of the individual as would actually bring about the
desired relief.
In the following chapters of this book which are really specific
and practical lessons in the application of certain mystical laws
the correct use of the proper affirmations will be explained. It is
the purpose of this preliminary lesson to remove from your mind
the misunderstanding and misconception that may exist regarding
affirmations as generally promulgated by popular lecturers, who are
generally less informed regarding the mystical laws of the universe
than they are about the superstitious beliefs of a multitude of persons
who think that a few lessons in psychology will furnish the key to the
mastership of all of lifes problems.
Therefore, whatever you may have read or learned about affirmations
should be set aside if you would succeed with the instructions given in
these lessons. If you have become so fond of the use of affirmations
through an intimate acquaintance with them, and because of their
alluring attractiveness you cannot reject all that you have read and
learned about them, at least take these nice beliefs of yours and wrap
them up for the time being; place them in your treasure chest among
the family heirlooms and rare possessions of this material world, until
such time as you have become familiar and well acquainted with the
newer ideas contained in this book.
15

Then, after you are as intimate with these new ideas as you are with
the others, you may occupy a rainy Sunday by taking the old ones from
their hiding places, compare them with the newer ones, and decide for
yourself which you shall make your real jewels and your ornaments
of life. But until you are as well acquainted with the use of the new
tools as you are with the old ones, and until you have given the newer
principles as much time to prove their efficacy and demonstrate their
power as you have given the older ones in your hopes and frustrated
realizations, you are not competent to judge which will serve you best,
and you will not be fair to yourself in rejecting what is now offered to
you.
Therefore, proceed with these new ideas with an open mind, and
without bias or prejudice give them an opportunity to register their
logical basis and appeal to your common sense, and you will soon find
that you have contacted a new world of possibilities and a new life of
realities.
16
Chapter 2
THE COSMIC AND YOU

Whatever is lacking in your life, whatever may be among your needs,
exists for you to possess, to have and to hold, so long as you use it
appropriately.
HERE ARE TWO universal ideas connected with the practical

application of psychology and metaphysics in the West that
are generally associated with affirmations and with conscious
or subconscious ideas held by those who are seeking the blessings of
the Cosmic. One of the ideas is that each one of us is at one with
God or a child of Gods perfect manifestation. The other idea is
that the abundant supply of the Cosmos is at our disposal, or the
blessings of God are mine.
With both or either one of these ideas as a fundamental belief, it
is natural for us to feel that suffering and pain, disease and ill-health,
poverty or the lack of necessities in life are not only essentially wrong,
but due entirely to some trick of the mortal mind or some lack of
realization of divine or cosmic contact.
If it were true that ill-health and suffering or disease were the result
of some mental trick of the mortal mind, or some aberration of the
mortal minds memory of its divine attunement, then we would be
justified in believing that it would be necessary only to untrick the mind,
or to establish a conscious realization of divine attunement, in order
to cleanse the body or the consciousness of all suffering, disease, and
pain. In other words, if all pain and suffering were the result of some
false reasoning on the part of the mind, and both the cause and the
17

manifestation of disease and pain were the reactions of a false belief
within the mortal mind alone, then it would be logical to conclude that
the cleansing of the minds conceptions and the repeated affirmation
that disease and pain do not exist would alter the conditions and leave
one free from all suffering.
Such is not the case, fortunately. I say fortunately, even though on
the face of the matter it seems that it would be a very fortunate thing if
all disease and suffering were the result of mere mistaken beliefs in the
mortal mind, for that would seemingly leave healing and health easily
attainable. But it is fortunate that such is not the case, for that would
eventually demonstrate the superiority of the dominion of mortal
mind over human will or over the fundamental and natural laws of the
universe; and that cannot be, for humanity is ever and anon subject to
natural laws and spiritual laws, all of which are laws of God.
We cannot change, regulate, or modifyleast of all negate and set
asideany of the natural laws or any of the spiritual laws. We must
abide by them! But we have the will, and with it the privilege and power
of using natural law and spiritual law, to regulate our lives. We must
abide by these laws, and either cooperate with them or run counter to
them. Nevertheless, we are ever affected by them, and our hope and
salvation from disease, pain and suffering, poverty and discomfort, lie
in cooperating with natural and spiritual laws and applying them to
our own advancement and perfection, rather than running counter to
them.
Disease and suffering, poverty and discomfort, are invariably the
result of the violation of natural or spiritual laws. The sufferer, or the
victim of circumstances, may not always be the one who has violated
the law, for it is true that unto the third and fourth generation will the
law make itself manifest. But regardless of the cause, and regardless
of who violated the laws, the sufferer therefrom and the victim thereof
has it within his or her power to adjust the conditions by directing, in
his or her behalf, the operation of other natural and spiritual laws, and
living in harmony with them.
It is perfectly true that as human beings we are the highest expression
of Gods creation. It is also true that being created in Gods spiritual
18

image, we are children of Divine Consciousness and an intimate
part of Gods own being. Therefore, it is more than a mere logical
conclusion that we are children of love, perfectly created, and having
within us the creative powers and the essential goodness and divinity
of Gods own consciousness. But this alone is not sufficient to prevent
the development of disease within our bodies or to keep us continually
healthy and happy, regardless of our own voluntary actions and our
methods of living and thinking. We may create a perfect piece of
machinery, and if it is misused, or if it is neglected or damaged, it will
cease to be the perfect thing it was or could be.
It is useless to argue the point as to whether God also created evil
and disease, suffering, pain, and poverty, as the opposites of all that
is good. The fact is that such things do exist, and what we should be
concerned with in any practical study of metaphysics or ontology is the
cause of their existence in our own affairs, in our own environments,
or within our own bodies.
Regardless of whether God created the dark night as well as the
bright day, we know that the night is caused by the absence of light.
And we know likewise that light will dispel darkness. We know these
things because they are demonstrations of natural law and spiritual law.
And we have come to realize that to affirm in the darkness that there is
no darkness, results in no coming forth of light. Mystics may have their
own symbolical interpretation of light and metaphysical understanding
of darkness. But such mystics do not allow their symbolical light to
become a material thing, nor their metaphysical darkness to become
such an equivocal thing that in the midst of actual darkness they would
affirm the existence of light while denying the existence of its opposite.
Mystics know that there is but one thing that will dispel darkness, and
that is light. And they know that there is but one thing that will affirm
the light, and that is the actual light itself.
So it is that a practical mystic, trained in the Rosicrucian principles,
is aware of the fact that all disease and suffering have resulted from the
violation of natural laws or the failure to abide by natural laws through
a voluntary disobedience of their authority.
19

To return to the familiar toothache, we may say that the tooth
aches because of some cause within the tooth. The cause is a diseased
condition of the tooth or the gums surrounding the tooth. This
diseased condition is a result of the violation of some law of nature.
The violation was not a metaphysical one, a mystical one, nor a mere
trick of the mortal mind in believing that it had violated some law.
It is difficult for people to imagine that which they have never
experienced nor realized. The mind that has never realized the agony
of a toothache cannot conceive or imagine it, and produce through
its imagination a synthetic demonstration. The mortal mind can be
conscious of a toothache only through having the experience. The
mortal mind may give a false importance to the toothache or may
attribute to it a mistaken sense of authority, and it may even credit the
toothache with the right to enslave its victim. But it cannot create that
toothache, nor can it negate it out of existence. The ache is a pain, and
pain is the result of a cause, and the mortal mind cannot create the
cause nor can it remove the cause.
As we have said in the previous chapter, the Eastern mystics have
used affirmations and their will power to prevent the mortal mind from
giving undue power and authority to the ache or its ability to enslave
them. They have learned how to negate the mortal minds acceptance
of a false belief in the power of pain to enslave them, but they have
never misapplied their correct understanding of the use of such a
negative affirmation to the imbecilic practice of positively affirming
the nonexistence of the pain itself.
As Rosicrucians and practical mystics, with our feet firmly on
the ground during our earthly existence, and ever conscious of the
material laws as well as the spiritual laws, we use our will in directing the
natural creative forces within the body, and throughout the universe,
to remove the cause of pain and to cure the toothache by curing the
condition that resulted from the violation of some natural law. As we
have intimated, this is practical mysticism. It is reasonable, rational,
and sound in every way. It neither denies the existence of God and
Gods means and methods, nor does it aggrandize the material part
of a human being and make that superior to the spiritual part of our
being.
20

An abundant supply does exist, not only in the Cosmic, but
throughout all of nature. God has provided bountifully for all the needs
and most of the luxuries required or desired by every human being.
These constitute the rich blessings that God promises all creatures and
which God has so beautifully provided throughout all the ages.
Whatever is lacking in your life, whatever may be wanting among
your needs, exists for you to possess, to have and to hold, so long as
you use it appropriately. What you lack is not in your possession, or
at your disposal, because you have not attuned yourself to it or have
not attracted it to yourself. Affirming that you have it when you do
not have it, will not attract or manifest it. Nor will the belief that since
you do not have it, you cannot have it, affect the fact that you still
may have it if you earn it, deserve it, or attract it and bring it into your
consciousness.
All things that we may require are ours essentially and potentially,
but they may not be ours actually, because of some principle, some
law exercised by us or denied by us which withholds the realization of
the things that we lack. To affirm, therefore, that since we are perfectly
created and perfect in the image of God, we shall have no disease,
regardless of how we think, live, or act, is as inconsistent as saying that
regardless of the fact that it is the middle of the night, and by natural
and divine law, the sun does not shine, the sun is still shining because
we have affirmed that the sun exists and the darkness is not.
And to affirm that because there is an abundant supply for all, and
essentially every blessing and bounty of God is at our disposal, we
therefore have everything, and lack nothing, while at the time we are
objectively conscious of our needs, is simply proclaiming a falsehood
and hoping that our own predicament will be magically transformed
by a formula that is as unscientific and unsound metaphysically as
anything can be. Therefore, in a practical way, I shall attempt to show
you how we may attract and bring into our existence the things that
we lack and which our divine perfection and an abundant supply have
established for us.
21
Chapter 3
MENTAL ALCHEMY
There is a considerable difference between concentrating upon a
dream or hope, and concentrating upon building that dream into
realization.
NE OF THE most popular beliefs in the Western world

regarding the application of psychological principles to our
everyday affairs is in connection with the so-called art of
concentration.
It is generally believed, by those who have heard public lecturers
propound the simplest aspects of psychology, that through
concentration upon a specific need some magical processes are set
into motion that bring into materialization the thing desired. It matters
little what the thing may be, or when or how we concentrate upon it,
for according to the various lecturers and teachers of this art, there
are as many methods as there are teachers who offer their personal
instruction.
One public lecturer, renowned for her years of devotion to the
expounding of the simple formulas of psychological magic, frankly
admits that after investigating her own private formula for many
years, and examining the reports of her thousands of paying students,
she can guarantee her concentration method to be sixty-five percent
efficient! It would seem that if there is any psychological, metaphysical,
or mystical law involved in the art of concentration, one hundred
percent efficiency should be guaranteed as the standard. Thirty-five
percent admittedly fail, according to this one lecturer.
22

My own investigations, and the reports I have received from
perhaps 50,000 persons who have tried all of the personally discovered
and unique systems of concentration taught in the self-help classes
conducted by these itinerant teachers, have shown that ten percent of
the tests of such methods produce results that may be attributed to
the practice.
Yet it cannot be denied that there is an art to concentrating and that
this art can be used to bring into our lives the things that we desire
or need. There is a method known to the Rosicrucians that is easily
guaranteed to be one hundred percent efficient, if used as directed. I
will address this later. The point I wish to make is that there is nothing
wrong with the principle of concentration, but often it is employed
incorrectly by those who foster in the minds of the public the false
belief that it is a simple process, requiring no other consideration than
to concentrate, wish for something, and desire to turn the wish into
materialization.
It is an easily demonstrable fact that of the many things we need
in our lives, or wish for the most, those things upon which we
concentrate our attention and our thoughts most continuously and
sincerely are likely to be brought into realization. It would be trite to
say that through concentration upon a desire, we tend to bring it into
realization. But the fact remains that there is a considerable difference
between centering our conscious thoughts upon our great desire and
keeping it foremost in our consciousness, and the so-called secret
methods of concentrating on each and every little thing that appears
upon the prospective horizon as a necessity or a desirability.
Undoubtedly, we are more apt to bring into our lives that thing or
condition to which we devote most of our attention, or to which we
give the utmost thought. When we become obsessed with a wish, a
hope, or a desire, to such an extent that it blots out all other temptations
and puts far into the background all other seeming needs or wants, we
are very likely to make every one of our acts contribute toward the
fulfillment or realization of the wish and to expend every possible
effort as a contributing factor in its materialization.
23

I have found, through conversations with hundreds of people who
have discussed their goals and desires with me, that for most of these
individuals there has been an entire absence of true concentration
effectively applied in the proper manner toward the object or goal
desired.
Let me illustrate my point with a typical example. A young woman
was employed for several years in the business office of a major
building supply company here in the West. Her parents, successful
business professionals, desired that she follow them into the business
world. However, their daughter was not interested in that path. She
dreamed of someday becoming an architect. Her parents agreed that
this was indeed a noble profession and ambition, and they had offered
to pay her way through university so that she could complete the
course in architectural design and become an architect. However, the
young woman refused their offer, insisting that she would not have her
education paid for nor accept any further money from her parents but
would find her own way in life. I believe that this independent attitude
on the part of the young woman actually impressed her mother and
father, but the problem remained: How was she to become an architect?
The young woman admitted that she had held this desire to become
an architect for many years. She said it was her dream and her hope to
one day become an architect and design beautiful buildings. She had
always heard that if one held fast to a belief, a hope, or an ambition,
or had maintained that wish steadfastly for a number of years, that it
would lead the seeker on some path toward the desired goal. Yet here
she was, doing the same work in the same way, day after day, with no
indication that her great dream was to be fulfilled.
When I asked her if she had concentrated upon this great hope
or dream, she enthusiastically replied that it was the main thing she
thought about all the time. She said that she had no other particular
ambition, and had laid aside other interests to focus her energy on this
great hope.
However, my careful questioning of her revealed that her idea of
concentration was much like someone who sits on a park bench and
gazes across the lawn towards a beautiful home and wishes that he or
24

she could possess such a home, live in the home, be inside enjoying
a wonderful meal in the posh dining room while appreciating the
warmth and comfort of the fireplace and the dreamer wishes and
wishes, and wishes some more. At the time, the wishes and desires
seem so real as the dreamer concentrates on attaining the comforts of
life that others seem to enjoy. But can one say that such intermittent
wishing, or the holding of a consistent desire, really constitutes the art
of concentration?
The young woman admitted that in the building supply office where
she worked she often met professionals in the building industry who
came there to secure blueprints or to discuss their plans with the
company managers. Through her work she was constantly brought into
contact with architects, builders, and contractors, and through working
with these professionals, she had become somewhat familiar with the
process of designing and constructing buildings. She had witnessed
many conversations about the intricate problems and challenges of
architecture and building, and it was all very fascinating to her. However,
careful questioning revealed that she had not concentrated enough on
her wonderful dream of becoming an architect to make the dream a
true passion. The dream had not become so dominating a factor in her
thinking and acting as to have led her into conversation with architects
so that she could find out how she might actually become a student of
architecture.
In her desire to become an architect, the young woman had not
even considered the possibility of visiting architects in their offices
and observing them at work. Nor had she been urged by her dream or
hope to borrow any of their books about the art of architecture. She
had not even told anyone except her parents and one or two friends
about her great desire to pursue architecture. Even her employer at the
building supply company did not know about her desire to become
an architect, nor did the drafters and designers associated with the
company have any idea that this young person was eager to take up
the study of architecture and thereby become a valuable aid to the
company for which she was working. Concentration, indeed!
25

There is a considerable difference between concentrating upon a dream or hope,
and concentrating upon building that dream into realization.
Had this young person been truly concentrating on building her
dream into realization, she would have talked architecture, thought
architecture, and acted architecture every waking moment of her life.
She could not have been kept away from the presence of architects,
nor away from the building plans, drawing boards, and bookshelves
of architects offices, and designers studios. Real concentration on
her great hope would have led her within a short time to trying her
hand at creating plans and drawings, and undoubtedly she would have
become acquainted with those who would have advised her, helped
her, and mentored her, even while holding her regular job and earning
an income. And her employers declared later that they would have
gladly apprenticed her to work in the drafting studio in her spare hours
to learn some of the practical and fundamental lessons of the first
stages of creative planning and building.
To summarize, if this young person had devoted all of her energy
and concentration to becoming an architect instead of just dreaming
about being an architect, there is no doubt in my mind that she
would have succeeded in receiving all the education, experience, and
encouragement necessary for her to be successful in her career, and,
thus, she would have fulfilled her aspiration in life to become an
architect and design beautiful buildings.
In another example, a young man, nineteen years of age, took a
job working in a photographic studio doing ordinary work for average
wages. He had always been fascinated with photography, and loved to
photograph nature scenes, but he had never had any formal training in
this skill. Nevertheless, his interest in the art of photography helped
him immensely in his new job, and he looked forward to learning all
he could about the basics of professional photography. It wasnt long
before this young fellow realized that his job had opened a whole new
dimension in his life.
One day he had occasion to see some special photographic work
brought to the studio for duplication, and its very nature, beauty, and
rareness attracted his attention for he had never before seen such
26

superb nature photographs. He found out that the pictures brought
into the studio for duplication were the result of a little-known process,
used almost in secret by only a few master photographers who had
learned the art abroad and were capable, not only of creating the most
attractive and beautiful reproductions of nature, but of earning a good
income and enjoying a good standard of living as they pursued their
profession. The young man became obsessed with the desire to learn
this unusual art and decided to devote himself to this goal. The idea
the hope and ambition came into birth almost spontaneously as he
listened to his employers fascinating story of the rareness, beauty, and
profits connected with this unusual art. For many days the young man
dreamed about it, and gradually his ambition became an all-absorbing,
dominating obsession in his consciousness.
In every spare moment he sought out other specimens of this
exquisite art. In the process he visited art galleries, studied books about
nature photography, read magazines about special effects photography,
and took evening classes in photography determined to pursue this
dream and ambition. Everywhere about him, especially in nature, he
saw scenes that he felt would be worthy of reproduction if he could
only discover or learn this special process. His heightened awareness
of the beauty in nature that might be reproduced through this unique
process excited him to further exploration. He was always alert for
some possible clue that might lead him to discover some description
of the secret photographic method that could reproduce such beauty.
Every conscious moment was centered upon doing those things,
learning those things, thinking those thoughts, and arranging those
thoughts that would bring him nearer to his ambition. He thoroughly
investigated all possibilities. He thought photography, dreamed
photography, and acted photography. He was concentrating in the true
sense of the word upon what he wanted, and there was no mystical,
secret principle about his concentration so far as he knew.
Unaware of any doubts or psychological impediments as to why he
might not succeed on this chosen path, the young photographer-intraining did not waste time consulting fortunetellers or crystal gazers
to find out whether he would ever be successful in materializing his
dream. He had no question in his mind or doubt in his consciousness
27

that he had selected the right course of action in his life and that it
would be realized!
Eventually his great desire and concentration led him to locate
the master photographer who had brought the first specimens to the
studio. Since the young man was now a serious student of photography,
he found reason to call on this man in a professional way with other
matters connected with the art. He called at a time of day when the
photographer was working in his studio. In hurried interviews with
the photographer, the young mans eyes registered everything within
sight, with that keenness that comes through real concentration. He
noticed names on instruments, imprints on catalogs, and other details
in the photographers workroom. Later he hurried to art stores and
photography supply outlets, where he purchased similar instruments
and other things, little by little as his means afforded. He experimented
with the process by following the very brief and almost enigmatic
instructions that accompanied everything he bought. And eventually,
through meditation, concentration, and inspiration, there seemed
to come to him shafts of light in the form of bits of wisdom that
informed him, as if intuitively, how to experiment and what to do. The
results of all this effort and inspiration were small, crude specimens
of pictures that were far from being admirable, but were, nevertheless,
unique in their process.
Finally the young photography student took several specimens of
his work to the master photographer who knew the whole art. The
photographer was so astounded at the youths discovery of part of
the secret process of this hidden art that he unintentionally perhaps,
or diplomatically, told the young man where he had made some errors,
and why his work was not exactly as it should be. This led to further
experiments that produced better results, which he again shared with
the master photographer, who came to appreciate the young mans
enthusiasm and obvious artistic talents. Impressed by this young
persons enthusiasm and determination to discover and refine this
special photographic process, the master photographer asked him to
become his assistant an apprentice in the craft so that he could
further instruct him in the special process. This was a dream come true
for the young photography student, and within a year his success in
28

this effort and the application of all he was learning was bringing him
a good income and recognition in the world of art photography that
was unusual for one so young, and within another year, his dreams and
hopes were being fulfilled abundantly.
Concentration did it! But it was not the form of concentration
that is taught in a course of Five Easy Lessons, nor learned in
an inexpensive paperback book on how to concentrate upon the
abundant supply for your needs. The Rosicrucians know that to truly
concentrate means to have one absorbing idea at a time and to think
of it to the exclusion of everything else, and then let your entire life,
for the time being, cooperate with your concentration to bring into
realization the thing that you desire.
This does not mean that to concentrate successfully dreamers or
thinkers must remove themselves from their professions, businesses,
duties, or obligations, and isolate themselves in the proverbial cave or
mountaintop where they can do nothing else but think and meditate
upon that one desire. Such would surely frustrate every possibility of
fulfillment. Nor does it mean that concentration should be indulged in
only when the mind is free and the body is at rest before the fireside
in the evening or upon retiring at night. It means concentration in
every possible moment of relaxation from the duties at hand. It means
sacrificing every other thought that is not productive or essential. It
means devoting every spare moment and every moment that is not
absolutely necessary to life and its duties. It involves forsaking the
pleasures and temptations, and the casual things of life, for more
profound and more extended thought upon the one desire. It takes time,
for it requires time. It means effort, for it requires mental activity, not
passivity. It involves action, for it cannot be associated with relaxation
and dormancy of the faculties. It requires faith and confidence, for
the elements of doubt and suspicion will frustrate every possibility of
fulfillment.
As we proceed with these little talks in the next chapters, the art of
proper concentration will be made plain and more practical. One of
the most important principles, however, which must be understood
and brought into use before concentration becomes useful, is that
of mental alchemy. The Rosicrucians of the past were well known
29

as preeminent alchemists. Not only have they been credited with
having succeeded in making pure gold out of dross metals, and
thereby bringing into realization one of their fond dreams, but it has
been conceded that the Rosicrucian art, with its usual teachings and
knowledge, enables its students and adepts alchemically to bring into
materialization everything that they can mentally conceive and create
in imagination. Thus they were proficient in the art of mental alchemy
as well as in the alchemy of the crucible and physical alchemy.
Among all creatures, we have within our beings creative powers that
are a part of the God Consciousness; thus human beings are uniquely
endowed. We have the rare privilege and ability to concentrate and
create mentally that which we desire to create eventually in material
form. In this process of mentally conceiving and mentally creating,
humans are the equal in some degree to God, since it is a God-given
privilege for humans to use the creative power which brought into
existence in this universe all that is.
But the art of mentally creating is little understood in the Western
world and is practiced almost exclusively by those adepts who are
often considered to be the white magicians of this earth. I say they are
considered the white magicians, for their magic is white magic, free
from evil and free from any destructive nature, as the power that they
use is part of the creative power of the God Consciousness, and this
creative power is incapable of creating that which is evil or that which
is destructive.
The undeveloped or unevolved mind may conceive of evil and
of things destructive, but we cannot mentally create or bring these
things into materialization in the mystical manner by which good and
constructive things will come into material form when created by the
cosmic power in the mind.
When we conceive of that which is not good and seek to bring it
from our mind into material form, we must labor with the grossly
material elements and bring them into irrational, illogical, and unnatural
relationship in order to make them manifest as evil in the material
realm. But when we conceive of that which is good and constructive,
we may mentally create it through the alchemical processes of our
30

mind in attunement with the alchemical processes of the Cosmos, and
as a result of such attunement the thing created will sooner or later
become manifest outwardly through the creative processes existing
within our consciousness and our being.
It is, therefore, only necessary when seeking an improvement in
our environment, an answer to our needs, or a beneficent item added
to our possessions, to mentally create the thing we desire through
concentration and mental visualization. We should do this day by day,
hour by hour, whenever time permits, until the thing conceived of and
in the process of creation becomes a living, vital, vibrating thing in our
consciousness. It must become so real that its reality is omnipresent
and so effectual in its existence that it modifies, controls, directs, and
influences our thinking, acting, and living.
Such a mental creation soon ceases to appear to be a thing of the
mind alone. When the eyes are closed, it is clearly seen; when the mind
is in relaxation it takes possession of our being. It is ever present in all
of its forms, color, size, weight, and power, regardless of its nature. It
is like the unborn in the womb of its mother, ready for delivery into
this material world.
All things that God created were first conceived by God in this
manner. All things that materialize on this earth as blessings for
humanity and contributions to our essential needs were alchemically
created in the Cosmic before their existence was projected into material
form on this earth plane. We must therefore exemplify and emulate the
cosmic processes and the divine scheme. We cannot materialize into
this world that which we have conceived without the proper process
of maturing development.
In my experience with business people, firms, boards of directors,
and corporations that have labored incorrectly and therefore
unsuccessfully with great plans or important matters, I have found
that what they desired to bring about had not been properly conceived
in the first place. Seeds that are lacking in consistent relationship, or
which are unimportant in nature, inharmonious in vibration, or the
offspring of evil parents, cannot be brought together to effect a perfect
conception or to vitalize an idea. And I have found that even where the
31

conception was complete and more or less perfect in every requisite,
there had been no period for proper gestation, and no logical, natural
course of development to bring the conception into a living, vibrant
form for final expression.
It is fortunate, indeed, that all our passing conceptions and all of
our mental images do not take form and parade about us to enslave
us and clutter the world with misconceived ideas. It is fortunate that
only those things can come into being, into concrete and material
realization, that have been carefully synthesized and developed in the
crucible of the mental laboratory of divine consciousness. However,
because there is this element of time, and this necessity for proper
development and maturity, individuals become impatient and seek
shorter methods and easier ways to bring their dreams and desires
into fulfillment. In this they most surely fail, and through such failure
lose faith and confidence and dethrone the creative power within as a
pretender.
It is not difficult for the human mind to visualize in all of its details
that which the mind can conceive as a thing desired. It must be done
through the concentration of the objective faculties and the use of the
will power directed from the outer self inwardly, as though there were
within the human consciousness a sanctum for the preparation and
creation of all things desired by us.
Little by little, part by part, element by element, the thing must be put
together in its visualized form, and after each addition of each stage of
development, it must be examined, tested, and tried, to discover if any
element has been overlooked, any part neglected, or any adjustment or
association of parts and elements wrongly made. As one would build
a house by constructing the walls, brick by brick, so each part of the
thing desired must be mentally created and visualized, until it is ready
to burst forth in its completed state and stand in the consciousness of
the creator as a thing actually existing and in our possession.
So much for mental alchemythe art of mentally creating and
visualizing the thing desired. Nothing pertaining to the desire must
be overlooked. One must keep in mind the usefulness of the thing
desired. One must avoid attempting to create that which has no
32

practical use and which will bring neither profit nor benefit to anyone.
The dangers from its misuse must be considered and guarded against
during the process of creating. Its benefits to others must be included,
and it must be so created that it cannot fail to be useful to others and
to be of benefit generally to humanity. It must be so created or of such
a nature that when it comes into final manifestation objectively, it will
become no charge upon the happiness, peace, health, and contentment
of others, nor carry within it the sacrifices and sorrow of others. It
must be desired with as little selfishness as is consistent with the need
of the thing. Its possession must be inspired by no motive associated
with revenge or anger, hatred or jealousy, pride or arrogance. Its
development and growing reality in the consciousness of its creator
should occasionally inculcate a sense of humility and humbleness, for
as it comes into form, the magnificence of humanitys creative powers
should make the creator of each thing realize ones obligation to God
and ones attunement with Gods kingdom.
If all of these things are considered and made a part of the process,
then truly one may feel that success and satisfying realization are
imminent and assured.
33
Chapter 4
COMMANDING COSMIC
HELP
How can I put my interests and talents together to make a living,
provide a necessary service to others, and make the world a better
place?
EAL MYSTICS KNOW that they must work through the

Cosmic and with cosmic law in order to bring about the
realization of their conceived and visualized dreams and plans.
They never forget cosmic law, and never fail to take the Cosmic into
partnership in all their plans and desires. However, there is a great
difference between commanding cosmic help and demanding cosmic help.
One may command cosmic help through ones worthiness, sincerity,
loyalty, and devotion to cosmic ideals, but one can never demand
anything from the Cosmic, for the attitude of demanding would
immediately preclude any consideration on the part of the Cosmic for
the wishes and desires of the petitioner.
Still, we read in many popular forms of applied psychology, and
even in much of the so-called mystical literature of the day, how one
may demand of the Cosmic or through the Cosmic, the realization,
mediate and immediate, of those things greatly desired. Such an idea is
responsible for the many failures experienced by thousands in trying to
bring about concrete demonstrations of mystical processes.
Before giving you the definite methods for bringing about certain
hopes and ambitions in your life, I wish to complete these preliminary
34

lessons by devoting the next few pages to a proper explanation of
how you may secure the cooperation of the Cosmic, and how you may
avoid interfering with the cosmic methods for cooperation.
When one seeks the cooperation of the Cosmic in bringing about
a realization of some plan, one assumes that the Cosmic can help,
and while it knows how to help and is unlimited in its means and
methods, it would be almost futile to ask the Cosmic to help in many
of the problems which we must solve. It is natural to think that no
one would appeal to the Cosmic for help in regard to a proposition or
plan which can be easily worked out by the individual independently
of the Cosmic. Surely, we do not appeal to the Cosmic for help every
moment of the day in mastering the minor routine problems of life.
We have learned about our own possibilities as individuals because of
the cosmic creative powers resident within us, and realize that most of
our daily tasks and passing problems are solved or mastered without
appeal to the Cosmic. This is precisely as it should be and as God and
the Cosmic intended it to be. We appeal to the Cosmic only when
our plans seem to meet insurmountable obstacles, or when our efforts
and endeavors have been frustrated, and the efforts and endeavors of
others around us seem to be of no avail. The mystic knows that he or
she should not bring to the Cosmicwhich is the court of last appeal
in a mystical senseany problem that can be solved without its help.
We must not forget the ancient injunction that by the sweat of our
brows shall we labor and produce the necessary things of life. Those
who labor diligently and persistently in an effort to produce and bring
about the things they need in life meet with the greatest success, while
those who dream and plan and expect the Cosmic to labor for them
in the fulfillment of their dreams, are doomed to failure. Yet that is
precisely the situation in the world today as a result of the mistaken
information that has been taught and disseminated by so-called
practical psychologists and new-thought teachers.
As stated above, cosmic help can be secured and should be secured
at such times as the individual is incapable of coping with the situation,
or the situation is one which is beyond human control, or of such a
general nature or intense nature that too many problems or points are
involved for one mind to master.
35

Assuming, therefore, that the Cosmic can help through unlimited
means and methods at its disposal, we must realize at once that any
attempt to tell the Cosmic how to bring about the desires or plans
uppermost in our minds is not only an imposition on the intelligence
and universal wisdom of the Cosmic, but it is one of the most frequent
and positive reasons for the negative results that are so often attained.
Let me state this point again, in another way, so as to give it the
utmost emphasis. Since the Cosmic has unlimited ways and means of
carrying out anything that it decides to do, wishes to do, or agrees to
do, it is inconsistent and injurious to the success of the plans to tell
the Cosmic how to work out the solution. However, this is precisely
what thousands are doing in every attempt they make to secure cosmic
cooperation, and I hope that this particular lesson will prevent anyone
from ever forgetting the fundamental principles involved.
Here is an example that demonstrates how one should go about
securing cooperation with the Cosmic. We will begin by explaining
the ineffective approach, and then demonstrate the correct and
effective way of achieving ones goal. A mother and father and their
two children want to move to another part of the countryin this
case Californiawhere employment and educational opportunities are
much better than where they are presently living. In order to do this
they must sell their home and surrounding acreage so that they will
have enough money to buy another home and establish themselves
in the region where they plan to move, and the mother and father
both need to find employment in the new area where they want to
live. They have secured the services of a real estate agent and their
home has been on the market for many months, but so far there have
been no buyers. After many months of trying to sell their home, three
prospective buyers eventually emerge.
The first possible buyer would purchase the familys home
immediately for cash if he could just get his case settled in court,
which would bring him enough money to buy the property outright.
However, the case is in the hands of a referee who delays in rendering a
decision in the case. Prospect number two would also buy the property
immediately, except that her business is in the hands of a receiver,
36

and she is waiting for cash to come as a result of a settlement among
creditors and others. The situation is complicated by the fact that
this persons recent business bankruptcy could well prevent her from
securing a mortgage to finance buying the home. Prospect number
three is a young person without any credit history who genuinely wants
to buy the property, but who needs to secure a loan from his parents
in order to do so, and the parents are not terribly enthusiastic about
loaning their son the money or cosigning on a mortgage.
The family appeals to the Cosmic for help in this situation. The
father and mother concentrate on the Cosmic and visualize what they
would like to have made manifest or what they would like to see come
about namely, the sale of their home. Following what they believe
to be the most effective way of concentrating on what they want, they
project to the Cosmic Mind their requests and demands, which go
something like this:
We want to sell our home so that we can move our family to
California and buy a home and start life anew. However, we cannot
sell our home unless one of these three prospects secures the money
to buy it. Therefore, please help prospect number one to have the
referee make a favorable decision. Or in the case of prospect number
two, please have the receiver bring about a settlement to that persons
business. Or in the case of prospect number three, have the parents of
that young man make a decision to loan their son the money or cosign
on the mortgage so that he can buy our home.
The father and mother then concentrate upon and visualize the
referee looking over the legal papers and reaching a decision to release
the money needed by the first prospect. Then they visualize the receiver
working over his or her papers and coming to a favorable decision for
prospect number two. They then visualize the parents of the young
man deciding to loan him the money or cosign on a mortgage so that
he can buy their home.
After spending half an hour in concentration and visualization,
the mother and father feel that they have made perfectly plain to the
Cosmic just what they want. And the family waits day after day for
37

the Cosmic to bring about a solution to their problem, but nothing
happens. What could possibly be wrong?
Let us examine the familys problem and see whether or not they
have been doing the most effective thing to realize their dream. In
the first place, when this family consulted me and I have selected
this case from an actual occurrence they impressed upon me very
strongly the fact that their great desire was to sell their home to one
of these three prospects so that they could get the money and move
out West and begin life anew. That was the uppermost thought in
their minds in all of their concentrating, their visualizations, and their
appeals to the Cosmic.
However, when you think about it, what was their original goal? I
am sure you will agree that after all is said and done, what the family
wanted least of all was to sell their home and get the money. In fact,
the sale of their property and the securing of the money was not the
vital issue or the real thing that they desired most.
What the family really wanted was to move out West and start life
over again. I demonstrated this by asking them, Suppose you didnt
sell your home but had an offer from a firm in California to come out
there and work in one of the states new expanding industries, and this
offer was accompanied by a promise to pay your moving expenses and
help you in relocating and finding a nice home? Would you accept that
offer?
They immediately replied, That is exactly what we want! We would
gladly accept the offer.
So you see, the real desire of this familys hopes and dreams was
not to sell their home. However, from their limited, material, earthly
point of view, there was only one way by which they could move to
California and start life anew, and that was by selling their property
and using the money to carry out their plans in the new location. The
mother and father never, for one moment, considered the possibility
that the Cosmic might have other ways of bringing about a fulfillment
of their desires.
38

In other words, their desire was to move to California. So they had
thought about it, reasoned it out, and from their point of view they
had decided arbitrarily and finally that there was only one way for them
to succeed with this plan, and that was by selling their home. Then
they proceeded in all their thinking, planning, and concentrating to
use this arbitrary decision, this final conclusion, this reasoning and
judgment, as being the ultimate, the perfect, the only way to bring
about the realization of their goal. Having once decided on this plan,
they proceeded to then tell the Cosmic that it should or must accept
their decision, their plan, their solution, and work it out for them.
Certainly that is an imposition upon the Cosmic, and at the same time
it was the worst thing they could do to bring about the realization they
expected.
In other words, the family was appealing to the Cosmic to sell
their home, instead of appealing to the Cosmic to help them move to
California and start a new life. Or, to further illustrate their dilemma,
it could be said that the family was demanding of the Cosmic, We
want your help in bringing about a realization of our plans. But listen,
Cosmic, we have decided how it should be done and how it can come
about and how you should assist. We are telling you just what we want
you to do, and we want our plans fulfilled in just this way and no other
way. We dont want you to provide us with some unexpected money so
that we can fulfill our plans. Nor do we desire that you have any money
come to us through a will or a gift or through any other channel, except
through the sale of our home. We want you to give us the money
solely through the sale of our property. We are not asking that you
have any company or organization offer us positions or a new home
in the West. We want to go there with our children and find jobs and a
place to live, and find these in our own way, and bring about the goal
of our plan in the way that we have decided. We do not want you to
do anything unique or original that we havent already thought of, but
simply follow our instructions, and then we will know that the Cosmic
is our partner.
Now I will leave it to the common sense of my reader as to whether
or not such reasoning and such appealing to the Cosmic is apt to
bring the desired results or not. The proof of my contention lies in
39

the fact that after I had talked with this family and pointed out the
limitations that they were placing on the solution of their problem and
the dictatorial attitude they had taken toward the Cosmic, they went
home and proceeded to concentrate in the correct and most effective
manner, after which they succeeded in having their hopes and dreams
fulfilled abundantly. The family concentrated on the following picture:
They saw themselves traveling not necessarily by automobile or
airplane or even train but nevertheless traveling, to California. The
father and mother pictured themselves finding good jobs, excellent
positions, which would make the best use of their capabilities and
provide good salaries and other benefits. They saw themselves in a
nice and comfortable home, without attempting to visualize all the
sundry details of such a homesuch as whether the home had a
porch or no porch, whether it had a tile roof or a stucco exterior,
whether it was one or two stories in height, with a big yard or a small
yard, and so on but a home nevertheless, comfortable and cozy, and
in accordance with what they actually needed. This is all they had in
mind when they concentrated and appealed to the Cosmic. They were
absolutely indifferent as to all the little details, such as exactly where in
California they would live, whether they would move there right away
or in a few weeks or months, exactly how they would travel there, and
specifically what kind of jobs they would have once they arrived there.
All of these minor details and ways and means they left entirely to the
Cosmic.
What was the result of this change in their approach to the Cosmic?
A friend of the family who had casually contacted an acquaintance
in California about this familys desires, received news that there was
a job opening in a new printing plant that was being established in
California, and since the father in the family had worked as a press
operator and a production manager in this particular industry, and
knew from firsthand experience all that needed to be done in setting
up a new printing plant, there was a possibility of a position for him
available in California. Upon hearing about this job possibility, the
father immediately contacted the management of the printing plant,
and they were thrilled to find someone with his experience to help them
get the printing plant up and running. He was offered the position,
40

plus an advancement of salary and a housing allowance sufficient to
bring him and the family to the West.
After our initial conversation, the mother in the family, who was a
nurse, had realized that there was a nationwide skilled nursing shortage,
and she was sure that she would be able to find a new position in
California. Through a professional organization to which she belonged,
she was provided with a list of available nursing positions in hospitals
throughout California. There would be a position open for her; she
had no doubt about this in her mind.
In less than two weeks the family was on their way to California,
eagerly anticipating their new jobs and new life on the West Coast.
Precisely three weeks after they had moved to California and were
becoming settled in their new jobs, the children in their new school,
and the family in their new temporary home, a real estate firm in their
hometown notified the family that a local developer, heretofore not
even considered as a prospect for buying the familys property, had
made a good cash offer for the home and property, and that the offer
had come out of the blue. Hence the family found itself comfortably
settled in a new home, in a new position, in a new part of the country,
with money from the sale of their home to apply to the purchase of
a new home in California. All of the familys hopes and dreams had
been fulfilled, and even more, and yet not one detail of the realization
was similar to what they had been concentrating upon in their original
attempts to demand of the Cosmic its cooperation.
In another illustration, a woman whose husband died was suddenly
thrown into the situation of needing to earn an income to maintain
her home and support herself and her sixteen year old son so that he
could finish high school, go on to college, and prepare himself for a
career. Before appealing to the Cosmic for help, she quickly reasoned
as to how she could bring about her hopes, and she decided that the
only thing she could do to earn an income would be to sell flowers
on the street with the help of her son, who would pick up and deliver
the flowers to various locations where she would sell them. She had
reached this decision about selling flowers by analyzing herself and
determining, as she explained to me, that since she had no business
41

training, and it had been many years since she had worked at a job
outside the home, there was no other way for her to earn an income.
In other words, after fifteen or twenty minutes of selfanalysis, she
was fully convinced that she knew all about herself, knew all she could
possibly do in this world to contribute to its needs or to produce
anything of usefulness. I may say, in passing, that this is one of the big
mistakes a great many persons make in connection with their personal
problems. They attempt to decide what possibilities they have in this
world. They believe themselves to be the best judges, even better
than the Cosmic or God. And whatever conclusion they may reach
regarding their capabilities and limitations, it is always ultimate, final,
supreme, and quite definite. It never dawns upon the minds of these
persons that there may be a higher and better judge, or that there may
be an intelligence that knows better than any living being just what
they can do in life. It never seems to come to the minds of these
persons that each one of us has a certain mission to fulfill in life, that
in order to fulfill this mission there are various means by which it may
be brought about, and that God or the Cosmic may know more about
this than we do.
However, the woman proceeded to concentrate day after day for
several weeks, asking the Cosmic to help her sell these flowers, which
were of inferior quality because of her inexperience and lack of a
source for the best quality flowers. Her poor son was neglecting his
studies and tiring out his young body trying to deliver and help her
sell these flowers from place to place. Together, they had very little
success, and as the family funds became exhausted and the onset of
cold weather threatened to severely limit her street sales, the woman
came to me in desperation and explained her problem. She wanted to
know how to get the Cosmic to help her sell flowers. All she could
think of was the sale of the flowers and the continuance of her efforts
in that direction.
When I asked her why she wanted to sell flowers, she said it was
because she wanted to earn an income. When I asked her why she
wanted to earn an income, she said it was so she could maintain her
home and provide for her sons education. When I asked her why she
42

wanted to maintain a home and provide for her sons education, she
said it was because she wanted him to finish high school, go on to
college, and complete his education so that he would be a success in
life. So we see that after all her real problem was not that of selling
flowers but of maintaining her home and providing an education for
her son.
But that was not the picture she had presented to the Cosmic. That
was not the picture she had concentrated upon. She had been asking
the Cosmic to help bring about the ultimate desires of her heart, but
at the same time she had been telling the Cosmic that it could be done
only through selling flowers. Since the Cosmic probably did not agree
with that plan or that decision, it did not cooperate. It had ways and
means of its own in bringing about her desires, but since the woman
had limited the Cosmics cooperation to the strategy of selling flowers,
the Cosmic offered no other form of help.
After explaining to this woman how to concentrate upon the real
desire of her heart, and how to refrain from thinking about the method
the Cosmic should use in working out her problem, it was brought to
a manifestation.
Our talk changed her perspective, and she realized how she could
put her real talents and gifts fully to use. With proper training geared
to her talents and abilities, she found a job where she could engage in
much more rewarding and constructive work than she ever could have
done selling flowers, and her son was able to continue his education
and eventually go on to college. The solution to her problem was one
she had never conceived of and one that had never been suggested
to her. Here was the perfect answer to the question: How can I put
my interests and talents together to make a living, provide a necessary
service to others, and make the world a better place?
These illustrations should make plain to you what I mean by
concentrating on the ultimate desire of your dreams, the eventual
hope in your plans, without limiting the Cosmic to ways and means of
bringing it about.
43

In all of the explanations of methods for seeking cosmic help given
in the following pages, it should be kept in mind that the fundamental
principle outlined in this lesson should be carefully followed.
44
Chapter 5
SECURING MONEY
The Cosmic cannot deliver actual cash into our possession, but must
bring this about through various earthly channels . . . .
NE OF THE two most often desired gifts from the Cosmic

is, perhaps, that of moneyactual cash. The other is health.
It is strange indeed that in the ultimate analysis of most

of the cases where petitioners are asking the Cosmic for money we
discover that it is not the actual cash in dollars and cents, or gold or
silver that is desired, but the credit. There is a considerable difference
between securing credit in order to enable one to purchase, buy, or
secure certain necessities, and the possession of the actual cash in
material form for the same purpose. And from the cosmic point of
view also, there is a considerable difference.
We would hardly think that anyone believes that the Cosmic conducts
a bank and has in its vaults gold and silver, copper and nickel, as well
as paper, in the form of coins and bills of all denominations and of
all countries. It would seem that only the child mind would conceive
of the Cosmic being able to deposit actual money into the hands of a
petitioner, like raindrops falling from the sky. The moment we realize
that the Cosmic cannot deliver actual cash into our possession, but
must bring this about through various earthly channels, we see at once
that it may be that the Cosmic can paid us in our financial needs in a
manner quite distinct from delivering the material form of coin to us.
45

Those who have read the preceding chapter will realize that in a
great many cases those who are seeking or asking for money through
any occult, mystical, or psychological process may not be asking for
what they really need at all. Let us say that I need a new coat and decide
that I will buy it at a certain store for a certain price. In order to do
this I must either have the actual cash in my hand or be able to pay
for it through credit. Of course, it is preferable that I earn the money
and secure the coat through my own efforts, as the Cosmic and all
natural law intends. But let us say that right now I need the coat and do
not have the money or credit to purchase it. Therefore, I proceed to
concentrate upon the Cosmic to give me the actual money or provide
the credit so that I can pay for the new coat. My entire concentration is
upon the amount of money that I believe I need. The purchase of the
coat or the necessity for having the coat is of secondary consideration.
However, if I proceeded properly, the coat would be the primary
consideration, and whether I purchased it with actual cash, paid for
it by credit, or it was given to me by a friend would be immaterial. I
would be glad to leave the arrangements to the Cosmic, feeling quite
satisfied that the Cosmic would see to it so that I received the coat.
However, there are instances where the necessity for money in some
form, or for credit to an equivalent amount, is the paramount desire,
and these occasions require as much serious consideration on the part
of the mystic as any other necessity or desire of a legitimate nature.
From the cosmic point of view, the use of money as it is used today
is fundamentally wrong and is a method or means arbitrarily established
by humanity for the purpose of getting around and avoiding most of
the ethical principles established by the Cosmic. I will touch on this
subject in another part of these lessons, but it should be kept in mind
that the Cosmic generally is not in sympathy with the use of money, and
whenever and wherever it can bring about the desired results without
recourse to the use of money, it will do so. Therefore, we will presume
that petitioners who are seeking money with the help of the Cosmic
will have reached the conclusion that they must have money only after
analyzing their necessities very carefully and knowing positively that
nothing else except money in some form, or the equivalent credit, will
serve their purpose.
46

Now there are two ways by which most petitioners expect the Cosmic
to help them receive money. The first way is in asking the Cosmic
to help them borrow what they need from a financial institution or
from someone they believe is financially capable of lending them the
amount. The other way is in asking the Cosmic to help them collect
either an amount that is justly owed them, or which they expect
through the settlement of some estate, will, legal paper, or other form
of benevolence.
We must examine each of these situations separately and consider
the proper methods whereby mental or mystical laws can be used to
help bring about the desired results.
When money is owed to you, and you cannot collect it because of
the indifference or the temporary inability or stubbornness on the part
of the person who should pay it, then you may rightfully and ethically
ask the Cosmic to help you secure what is justly yours. I must warn you,
however, that if there is even a fair reason for the debtor to hold back
the payment while some investigation is made, or while an adjustment
is made, or until you comply with some just conditions, then you
cannot expect that the Cosmic is going to aid you by setting aside the
rights and interests of the person who owes you the money and force
that person to make an immediate settlement with you against his or
her own best interests.
It has been found in many cases that where Jones owed a bill of
$1,000 to Smith, and Smith was asking the Cosmic to force Jones to
pay the money right away, that Jones was holding up the payment of
the sum because Smith had not fully complied with the conditions
that brought about the $1,000 obligation. It might also have been
that Smith was not willing to concede some point or agree to some
just and proper point previously arranged, or that Smith was perhaps
attempting to secure the money in a shorter period than had been
agreed upon. In such cases, the Cosmic will not act differently than a
judge in any court would act if he or she knew both sides of the case.
The Cosmic will insist upon being fair to everyone, and it is simply
impossible for petitioners to come to the Cosmic with their requests
and desires, thinking that they can hold back some facts about the
47

matter and fool the Cosmic into granting them their special wishes
immediately and without investigation. If you will stop a moment, you
will realize that the Cosmic, if it has any mystical, universal mind and
power at all, is just as familiar with the reasons, demands, and rights
of the person who owes the money, as with the person who desires
the money. So we have found that petitioners seeking the payment of
money that they claim is owed them must approach the Cosmic as one
would must approach a court of law, with clean hands.
But if the money is justly due you, and there is no reason for its
nonpayment, except the indifference or stubbornness or forgetfulness
of the person who can and should pay it, then you may concentrate
upon the Cosmic and, with patience, petition the Cosmic to intercede
for you and see that your just debt is paid. As to what method to use in
concentrating for such a purpose, I will have more to say briefly.
In asking the Cosmic to bring money to you that you believe is
coming to you, or should come to you through an estate, a court
settlement, a will, legacy, or a donation of some kind, we find that
here again petitioners must be sure that they are justified in assuming
and believing that the money will be given to them by the givers
own volition, but that the whole affair has been delayed through
forgetfulness, indecision, or something of that kind. In this latter case,
we will see an analogy with the former case. Petitioners must again
come into court with clean hands. They must be receptive and ready
to receive the money they desire. It must be free from entanglements
that are unethical, and it must not be money that will bring pleasure to
the petitioner alone and bring sorrow, suffering, and regrets to others;
for in such a case the Cosmic will not think of giving its aid to the
carrying out of a wish or a gift or help of any kind that will make just
one or two happy, while it makes many others sad and unhappy.
Of course there are those cases where people petition the Cosmic
for some money to meet an emergency, when they have no definite
idea where the money may come from, because no one owes them
any particular amount, and they do not expect any money through a
legacy or a donation of any kind. Such a situation is a very difficult one
in which to give advice and suggestions. In a great many cases of this
48

kind, the person soliciting the money is not warranted in expecting
money from any source and certainly is not warranted in asking the
Cosmic to create an immediate situation wherein the petitioner is
suddenly made the beneficiary of cosmic gifts which have not been
earned, arranged, or donated in any way.
Speaking in a general sense, the securing of money through cosmic
aid reduces itself to a form of concentration that is simple and
effective. After having determined that the actual money is what is
needed, and not the things which are to be purchased with it, then the
petitioner should decide what is the precise amount, or the smallest
possible amount, that will meet the conditions. Not too much, or not
more than is necessary, should be asked for. On the other hand, a
sufficient sum should be included in the asking to take care of the
immediate, as well as the longer term, needs. This amount of money
should be visualized in its figures and not in its form.
In other words, the money should not be visualized as gold or silver, or
bills, or in any particular denomination or form of currency. If $1,000
is desired, the figure or amount of $1,000 should be concentrated
upon, regardless of whether that $ 1,000 will eventually show itself in
the form of a check, a draft, a money order, actual cash, or a savings
bond. And every morning, every noon, and every night, at a time just
preceding the meal, one should attune oneself through relaxation and
concentration with the Cosmic and Universal Mind, and hold in ones
mind, at the same time, the thought and impression of the amount
of money that one needs. After doing this for a few minutes, with the
eyes either open or closed, the person should dismiss the matter by the
simple statement of This I ask of the Cosmic! and then go about
the business of the day, unconcerned about the coming of the money
or the method by which the Cosmic will answer the petition.
Doing this for four or five days will unquestionably bring some
result in the process leading to the realization of the amount of
money desired. In addition, if this amount of money is justly owed
to you by a particular person, you should concentrate on that person
in connection with the $1,000 and hold the picture of that person in
your mind, along with the amount of money, so that the Cosmic will
49

receive directly from you an impression of the person who should
pay the money to you. Again I must warn you about the necessity of
being sure that the money is justly owed you at the moment, and that
the delay in receiving it is not a just delay, and also that you are entitled
to its immediate payment without further delay. Of course, after what
I explained in the preceding chapter, you will not attempt to visualize
how the Cosmic will make the person pay you, or just what hour it
shall be handed to you, or brought to you, or placed to your credit,
or otherwise made available. Such concentration upon the amount of
money and the person who owes it, three times a day for a number
of days, will undoubtedly help to bring about an attitude on the part
of the person who owes the money that will lead to action and the
eventual realization of your desires.
In the case where money is desired from an estate or from some
person who is settling an estate, and where there is a delay or a hesitancy
or a possible frustration through so-called legal red tape, you must be
sure that there is no just reason for the delay, and that you are fully
entitled to have the Cosmic come to your rescue and make immediate
settlement. If you are sure of this point, then you may again visualize
the amount of money desired, and with that visualization keep in mind
the person or the condition surrounding the delay, with the idea that
the Cosmic will contact the right person or persons and set into action
the process that will lead to the proper settlement.
It has been found that in these cases where a referee or a judge or
any other individual is attempting to make up his or her mind and
decide whether to do a thing or not to do a thing, or whether to grant a
request to one person or to another, that if one appeals to the Cosmic
to bring about a decision favorable to the petitioner, the Cosmic will
affect the hesitating mind of the referee, judge, or other person, and
cause him or her to suddenly make a decision in favor of the person
who is concentrating on the Cosmic for cooperation. I have known
personally of many cases where judgments or decisions have been
held up for months, and in some cases years, because a certain person
could not come to a definite decision and was hesitating until a proper
decision could be reached. A few days concentration, however, upon
this person and upon the necessity for an immediate decision, caused
50

the person to suddenly come to a conclusion that had been delayed
for too long, and a favorable decision was then rendered to one of the
parties concerned. In several cases, an investigation afterwards or an
interview with the person who made the decision revealed that during
the evening hours, while in relaxation, the individual suddenly had
an impression that he or she must come to a certain conclusion that
appeared to the individual to be absolutely fair and just.
You can rest assured that when the Cosmic takes up your case and
impresses someone who has the right to decide about making a decision
in your favor, it is because the Cosmic knows that such a decision is
just and correct. In other words, the Cosmic will not make a judge or
referee or anyone else decide in your favor just because you petitioned
the Cosmic to do so, and the other party did not make such a petition.
We see by this that if both parties concerned in such a matter were to
petition the Cosmic, and each asked for a favorable decision, that the
Cosmic would have to decide and impress the hesitating judge with
what is his or her duty and what is proper in the points in question.
As for borrowing money, many other things must be taken into
consideration. The Cosmic is not loathe to aid in the matter of
borrowing, provided there is a good and justifiable motive behind the
desire to borrow and the borrower has proved to the Cosmic and to
others that he or she is trustworthy and repays whatever amount is
promised to be repaid. Again we realize that the Cosmic will not aid in
any injustice or in any matter that will be unfair or injurious to another
person. If, therefore, you are attempting to borrow money without
having any real need for the money, or, if a real need exists, without
having any ideas as to where, how, or when you will be able to secure
sufficient money to repay what you borrow, you can rest assured that
the Cosmic is not going to aid you in the matter.
If, on the other hand, in your previous transactions of small or large
amounts, you have always repaid what you borrowed, always given
back what has been loaned to you, always met your just obligations
with every endeavor to fulfill what you have promised to do, then you
may be sure that the Cosmic will aid you if there is a real need for the
money you are seeking. You cannot go to the Cosmic with a vague
51

hope that the borrowed money will be repaid some time in some way,
or with the idea that when it comes time for you to pay the money
back to the person you have borrowed it from, you will appeal again to
the Cosmic to deliver some more money to you in order that you may
square your left hand while you get ready to hold out your right hand
for something more.
In seeking the aid of the Cosmic in borrowing money, it is presumed
that you have in mind some person or institution, such as a bank or
financial institutional, from which to borrow the money; that in the
case of a person, that such person can loan the money to you without
injury to himself or herself; and that you will make it a regular business
transaction, clean-cut, and of the proper ethical form. With these
points being true, you may then visualize the amount of money and
the person or financial institution from which you desire to borrow it.
By concentrating upon such a visualization three times a day you may
count upon the Cosmics help, provided, of course, you have made
the regular earthly, physical, material appeal to the person or financial
institution, in addition to concentrating upon the Cosmic.
It is not to be presumed that you may want to borrow some money
from Mr. Smith and without ever letting Mr. Smith know you want the
money, proceed to concentrate upon the Cosmic and ask the Cosmic
to urge Mr. Smith to come over to your house and hand you the
money, as though he were being forced to do that by the Cosmic. In all
cases of borrowing, it is proper that you should make your appeal and
request to the persons first in a regular way and acquaint them with the
knowledge that you wish to borrow from them.
In attempting to borrow money from anyone, it is always advisable
to use the utmost frankness and be extremely specific. To approach
any person, or institution, such as a bank or loan association, and ask
for an indefinite amount of money, and in a way that demonstrates
that you are not familiar with what you want, and why you want it, will
surely bring a negative result. And to be evasive in your answers will
likewise jeopardize your success with any person or institution, just as
it would with the Cosmic.
52

It is understood, of course, that borrowing money is considered to
be an ethical process, and many institutions and persons earn more
money by loaning money. Banks would cease to exist and would go
out of business if they did not loan money as well as receive money
from persons who place it on deposit in their care. A banks only real
excuse for existing is to receive money from depositors and then loan
and invest that money in diverse ways so that it will earn an income
and produce more money. Some persons have money which they are
willing and ready to loan under certain conditions, and just as with
banks, such persons demand the utmost frankness and security.
In talking to the manager of one of the largest loan associations in
America, the manager frankly told me that in their institution, where
millions of dollars are loaned through their various branches every
month, a borrowers apparent stability and integrity are major factors in
deciding whether or not to make the loan. Of course, all the necessary
forms are filled out and interviews conducted, however, this manager
told me that such procedures and papers usually prove to be of no
value whatsoever if the borrower lacks integrity.
With this loan association, and with individuals and financial
institutions throughout the world, the hesitating, evasive borrower is
given a negative answer in the mind of the person or entity who has
the money to loan, long before any words are ever spoken. The shifting
eye, the hesitating voice, the indefinite explanation are earmarks of
irresponsibility. When borrowers are quite positive and definite about
why they need the borrowed money, what they intend to do with it,
and when they expect to pay it back, they will find a ready listener and
ready money at their disposal.
Most loan associations, banks, credit unions, and persons who make
a business of loaning money are interested not only in the borrowers
integrity, but in the purpose for which the money is being borrowed.
You can well imagine that neither a bank nor an individual would loan
money to a person when that person says he or she wants to use it for
gambling or betting at the race track, or for some other questionable
or irregular form of speculation.
53

Everyone who has money to loan would hesitate to loan it to a
borrower to buy luxuries instead of necessities. Clothing, food, the
payment of rent, doctors bills, the purchase of material for business,
the investment of money into a growing and successful business
proposition, the buying of tickets to travel to some point for business
purposes, the buying of a home that is a good real estate investment,
are generally considered good motives for borrowing. Borrowing
money for the college education of ones children is often considered a
good investment. While on the other hand, to borrow in order to enjoy
a pleasure trip to an exotic faraway country might be considered a risk,
and at the same time indicate that the person asking for the money has
little or no sense of business values, or personal priorities.
Every firm or individual who loans money expects interest at the
legal rate or sometimes a little higher. Very few persons are willing to
take their money out of the bank where it is earning four or five percent
and loan it to someone on the promise of securing six percent. The
risk of loaning their money, plus the trouble of collecting it, and the
delays in having the installments met promptly so that they would bear
the proper amount of interest, would more than offset the benefit of
an additional one percent or two percent that they would secure from
the borrower instead of from the bank. So you must be prepared, in
many cases, to pay more than the usual rate of interest if you expect
anyone to take a risk of this kind.
You need not feel that you are damaging your integrity or your
standing in a social or business way by borrowing money, for many
of the larger firms, the most successful business institutions, and the
most prosperous individuals find it necessary to borrow money from
their banks or from other persons at times, in order to expand their
business or carry on a special deal in an emergency. What will hurt
you more than borrowing money is failure to keep your promises
regarding making the return payments. What will injure your prospects
of securing borrowed money more than anything else is the record of
the manner in which you have lived and spent money when you have
had it. Persons who have had plenty of money or sufficient money at
one time or another and have squandered it for purposes that are not
54

ethical, cannot expect to have others loan them more money. All these
things are taken into consideration by the Cosmic, as well as by the
human mind.
Therefore, in asking the Cosmics cooperation, you must be
absolutely sure that you are appealing with clean hands. And you
must have made your solicitations to the persons or institutions in
the usual way before you ask the Cosmic to help bring it about. The
Cosmic is not going to communicate with banks all over the country
and tell them you want some money, and that one of them should loan
it to you. But the Cosmic will help, if you are worthy and deserving of
the loan, to impress upon the minds of the persons who can make the
loan that you are worthy and that the loan should be made, and it will
even go to the extent of urging them to make the loan more quickly or
with less delay than usual.
In securing money for business purposes, always be sure that your
business venture is one that is really capable of becoming a successful,
paying concern. Fantasies and purely speculative schemes are neither
supported by the Cosmic nor bankrolled by financiers, and investors
are usually reluctant to invest in pursuits that are highly speculative and
risky.
I recall how years ago I was approached by some people with ideas
for building experimental aircraft that were simply so ridiculous that
one could hardly keep from laughing, and yet, with no aeronautical
or engineering background, these speculators expected someone to
loan them thousands of dollars to build what was only a fantasy or
daydream in their minds. If you havent built or designed airplanes or
worked on them or piloted them, then you cannot expect that your
speculative and untried ideas about how to further develop aircraft
will attract financial backing. On the other hand, if you have worked
in the manufacture of airplanes for a number of years and have had
considerable experience flying them, and have discovered through
experimentation, building of models, and testing that you have some
new and better ideas about designing airplanes, you might be able to
find financial backing.
55

Here is how we can apply these important principles to the present
day. In order to secure financial backing for projects and business
ventures, you should have the education, training, or practical experience
appropriate to the business venture or profession that you want your
investors to support. This is not to say that there are occasional
exceptions, where someone with little training or experience, but with
an inventive mind and an outstanding idea for a new product, is able to
attract the rapt attention of those with money to invest. But this is the
exception rather than the rule.
For example, if you are a realtor, and have succeeded in your
profession, but now have an idea that you would like to open a
pharmacy because you believe there is more money in that business,
do not expect anyone to agree with you in your decision and advance
the money to start you in the pharmacy business, unless it is someone
who does not care what happens to their money. But if you have been a
successful pharmacist and you wish to move into a new neighborhood
and open a larger pharmacy where there is little competition and every
possibility of success, you will find others ready to help you with your
plan.
On the other hand, if you are a successful realtor and you would like
to expand your realty business by taking advantage of further training
toward becoming a broker, or perhaps moving into the mortgage end
of the business, or even opening a second realty office, your proven
track record should help you secure financial backing for your plans.
There is plenty of opportunity, for the Cosmic is always at work, and
those who are attuned with the Cosmic know that there are always
new ideas, new possibilities, and new ventures ready to come into
manifestation through the application of Cosmic Law.
Therefore, if you are a good accountant, or hairdresser, baker,
or engineer, or whatever your profession, you can secure money to
help you improve the business you are in, provided you are honest,
skillful, and dependable. And the Cosmic will help you in all these
legitimate propositions, and it will silently smile, by negative action, at
the unrealistic ideas of the impractical dreamer.
56
Chapter 6
THE ATTAINMENT OF
WEALTH
The person who has a good idea, a workable idea, and a creative
mind in which that idea can be mastered and visualized, is a person
who has wealth, boundless wealth, potent wealth.
ONTENTED IN LIFE, indeed, is the person who has no

desire for the attainment of wealth. Few there are who do not
have this desire to some extent or who do not express it in
some form. Fortunately, not all of us measure wealth by the same
standard, nor do we desire richness in the same measure. Regardless
of what we may possess, or what may be our privilege to enjoy, most
of us seek some things in abundance, and that abundance may be our
wealth.
Before taking up several points of a practical process, which will
enable us to bring wealth into our possession, let us consider what
constitutes wealth for the average human being. It may be trite to
say that one persons wealth may be anothers burden, or that what
one person cherishes as a rare and costly gift may be of no value to
another; but it is true nevertheless, and there seems to be but one
material thing that, through common acceptance by persons of all
minds, constitutes wealthand that is money. However, there is one
immaterial possession or blessing which most of us enjoy, and which,
by common consent also, is considered as the equal of wealth in any
form and that is health.
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The power of money in the world today is unquestionably a curse
for those who do not know its real place in the scheme of things and
who cannot relegate it to its proper place. In a preceding chapter, I said
I would speak about money, and this is my opportunity. If there were
no money in the world, or no material thing that represented wealth,
or had the power of fictitious valuation, health and the freedom of
existence would constitute the real wealth of every human being.
In the proper scheme of things, human beings should labor to
assist in producing and materializing the things necessary to live in the
world. There should be no other motive for our daily labor, no other
incentive for our dreaming and planning, than to assist in the carrying
out of Gods constructive work. We should feel that we will share in
the worlds blessings with all beings. We should know that of what
we assist in producing, a portion will be enjoyed by us, and a portion
will be enjoyed by our children or elders who are too young or old or
incapable of producing. We should know that unless we contribute to
the universal effort and take our proper place in the world, we cannot
hope to enjoy the blessings of the universe, nor to indulge in the
beneficent joys resulting from the labors of others.
This is no utopian plea, nor political doctrine. It is merely the mystical
viewpoint of life as it should be. However, people have learned that
they may enjoy lifes blessings and indulge in the necessities as they
understand them, by buying them with fictitious symbols which have
the power to secure those things which have not been earned or paid
for. Thus, some may labor diligently, and even to great extremes, to
keep body and soul together and to provide the bare necessities for
their families, while others may labor not at all, nor produce, nor even
plan or create, but live a life of laziness and indolence. Yet, through
an inherited possession or unfair scheming, the latter are able to buy
with the gold that they have not mined from earth, or with metals that
they have not labored to extract, or jewels that they have not physically
produced, such luxuries, privileges, and such abundant supplies as
permit them to flaunt their extravagant wealth, while others cry for the
things these individuals have cast aside.
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It is unquestionably true that the average man or woman who
finds life devoid of the necessities or luxuries, and whose longing is
for wealth in some form, is a victim of the human-made process of
rewarding labor with money, or compensating effort with symbols of
fictitious value. If money were not the thing with which the necessities
and luxuries of life could be secured, then few indeed would be
without that which they need most. It is neither the sluggard or
indolent person, nor the person who need not work or labor, who
most generally petitions the Cosmic or prays to the God of all beings
to aid him or her in attaining wealth. It is the man or woman who is
laboring industriously, consistently, and fairly; it is the person who is
devoting most daytime hours to laboring by the sweat of the brow,
and by the torment of the body; it is the one who is striving in every
honorable way, and against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, to
earn and deserve the necessities of life.
Those who find the battle against poverty and sorrow a most
difficult one should, without losing faith or hope, and without giving
up their tiresome efforts, appeal to the Cosmic and to the higher laws
of the universe for aid and assistance in securing for themselves, and
those dependent upon them, that which will bring them joy with their
health and happiness with their necessities. Such people seek to attain
wealth, and theirs is a wealth that is deserved, and their desires and
petitions should be answered.
Among the practical considerations we must analyze at this time are
the facts that material wealth does not always bring into our lives the
real wealth we seek, and that very often we unconsciously associate the
importance of money with thoughts about our needs.
In speaking with hundreds of men and women who believed that
the attainment of wealth was their real ambition, we have found that
in nearly every case money was desired in order to secure or purchase
or even attract other things which it was believed could not be secured
or attracted except through the power of money. In the preceding
chapter, I have tried to show that petitioning for money in most cases
was not the right way to bring about the ultimate desires within ones
heart. I would like to show at this time, however, that the petitioning
59

for wealthabundant wealth may be a proper procedure, and that
the desire for it may be a proper thought.
Among my intimate associates in the business world was that master
of finance and big business, Mr. Arthur E. Stilwell (1859-1928), who
built more railroads in America than any other living being and who
was a power on Wall Street. I have had the pleasure of being the adviser
to Mr. Stilwell in many and great business propositions. Some of them
were cast aside after brief consideration, sometimes upon my own
private recommendation, while others were developed and enlarged
into successful national operations, solely through the personal effort
it was my pleasure to institute.
Mr. Stilwell was a person of remarkable mental and psychic
development. Always one who paid attention to hunches and the
still, small voice within, Mr. Stilwell often recalled how his weirdest
hunch of all warned him not to make Galveston, Texas, which is
located directly on the Gulf of Mexico, the terminus of his Kansas
City Southern Railroad, because according to his hunch that city was
destined to be destroyed by a tidal wave, which actually happened four
years later in 1900. Following his intuition, Mr. Stilwell found a more
protected location on the Texas Gulf Coast and proceeded to build
the City of Port Arthur and the Port Arthur Ship Channel and harbor,
making that city the railroad terminus.
I am glad to note that Mr. Stilwell published, in some national
magazines, articles reviewing his mental and psychological contests
with major business deals and the victories that came into his life
many a time through the application of mystical laws that were
demonstrated to him in secret sessions we held while I was his silent
partner during the course of a number of years.
Mr. Stilwell s idea of wealth, however, was not wealth that gradually
accumulated for him in the vaults of Wall Street, or even in his holdings
in international marts. His idea of great wealth was the wealth of
character and of mental power. He considered that there was no power
in the world as strong, as mighty, as indefatigable in its processes of
overcoming the obstacles of life as the creative power of mind. His daily
60

petition to the Universal Mind and Consciousness was a prayer for
the continuation of health and especially of that power which was
developing in his mental faculties.
On many occasions, when Mr. Stilwell telephoned me late in the
night to come to his private office in New York, he greeted me with
a joyous grip and a hearty smile, and the exuberant claim that I am
truly wealthy tonight, for I have a great idea! And as we would discuss
his idea, I could not help noting that he enjoyed the thought that he
held. He cherished it like a loving child, not because he could see that
the idea would some day produce money for himself and others, but
because the idea was a thing alive with possibilities, and because it
could be visualized and matured and eventually materialized into a
vibrating magnetic demonstration of mental laws.
There was often no selfish interest in these ideas of his, for I have
spent long hours with him discussing an idea that both of us realized
we would have to pass on to another to turn into commercial form, for
neither one of us would have the time nor the interest in developing
the idea along business channels. But we could see in the idea a seed,
and we could see this seed conscious and active with life and possibility,
and often such ideas were passed over to his associates, some of whom
were connected with the Standard Oil Company, or with other large
industries whose executives we were acquainted with, and whose
planners and builders were also individuals who appreciated the value
of ideas and had the true standard of wealth in their consciousness.
The person who has a good idea, a workable idea, and a creative
mind in which that idea can be mastered and visualized, is a person
who has wealth, boundless wealth, potent wealth. The individual who
has money, who has jewels, who has gold and silver in sufficiency or in
abundance, but who has not the creative power to use such wealth, is
not rich, but poor indeed.
In petitioning the Cosmic, or in using the psychological processes to
bring wealth into ones personal environment, the less thought given to
wealth as represented by money or gold or silver, the more quickly will
petitioners attract to themselves the ways and means of attaining that
which really will constitute wealth in this life.
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First of all, those who believe they are deprived of lifes necessities,
or think they lack the abundance which should be theirs, should seek
to build up the greatest wealth and blessing that is within their reach,
and that is health. Perfect health, with the harmonious functioning of
all the inner faculties, cooperating with the functioning faculties of the
outer consciousness, is one of the greatest blessings that anyone can
possess. When such health is in the body, the mind is keen and alert,
and the creative powers of the Divine Mind, working through the
mortal mind, are active and productive. We are then able to direct and
control the obstacles that stand between us and the attainment of our
desires. We are able to appeal to the minds of others without doubt
and without hesitancy. We are truly masters of our lives and captains
of our ships, and it is just as possible for us to steer our ship of fate
and our life of destiny toward the goal of our dreams, and toward the
pot at the end of the rainbow, as it is for the experienced navigator to
navigate a ship to a distant point on any horizon.
The next great blessing is that of receptivity. To receive, one must
give. And as we give, we receive. It is the law of compensation. No
person as yet has successfully avoided this law, nor found a way to
contest and negate it. Our mind must become receptive to the
intuitional impressions sent forth by the Cosmic; it must become
receptive to the still, small voice within that seeks to guide and direct
all of our actions, all of our thinking and planning. We must become
receptive to the inspirational urges of the Universal Mind. We must
become receptive to the cries and the needs, the desires and the
wishes, of the mass mind of humanity, so that we may hear the pleas
of individuals and the hopes of groups of men and women who are
sending out into universal space their creative ideas, seeking assistance
in their fulfillment and materialization. The receptive mind must be
able to sense what another needs, as well as what is needed by the
self. The receptive mind must be attuned to the Divine Consciousness,
that it may have the unlimited wisdom, the infinite knowledge, and the
universal apprehension of things as they really are. To be receptive, one
must be productive. One must contribute in order to expect anything
in return. Life will give back precisely what one puts into it, and in a
greater measure.
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Let those who seek great wealth beware of seeking gold, unless it be
to materialize it into the beautiful things of life, symbolized by the very
nature of the metal. Let those who would be wealthy guard themselves
against seeking for money. For money may come into our hands and
pass out again without ever leaving its imprint of joy or a realization
of the dreams that sought its coming.
In the home and in business, let each of us daily, nightly, or at
every possible opportunity, petition the Cosmic for wealth of health,
the wealth of mind power, the wealth of joy in living, the wealth of
contentment that comes from adjusting ourselves to the conditions
that surround us, and then slowly improving them. Let us appeal for
the wealth of happiness that exists in our lives if we will but discover it;
for the wealth of peace that the universe affords all its beings; for the
wealth of life itself that permits us to know what we are, and that we
are who we are. Such petitions for wealth as these, followed by prayers
of thankfulness for what we have, will daily attune the individual to the
abundant wealth of the universe, and each will soon find that affluence
and prosperity, health and happiness, material blessings and spiritual
benedictions are flowing freely and bountifully into the filling cup of
life.
Then each one of us will know what really constitutes wealth and
what is meant by mystics when they seek the attainment of wealth.
63
Chapter 7
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT
The moment we attribute our failure in securing anything in life to
exterior influences which we imagine exist, we shut the door against
self analysis and fail to learn an invaluable lesson.
E MUST NOT overlook the fact that not everyone who

is seeking help in business matters is looking for money
for speculation or investment, or even any specific prize
or reward in lifes journey. Many ask only for an opportunity to serve
and to earn all of the necessities of life, plus a few of its luxuries. In
other words, not everyone is looking for large sums of money for the
fulfillment of great dreams. Perhaps most of those who appeal to us
for help are those who are seeking to secure better positions in the
business world or for opportunities whereby they may improve their
employment.
In todays business world the outstanding qualifications for
employment tend to be experience and capability. I know thousands of
business professionals who frankly say that when they have a vacancy
that calls for a capable person to fill, they care little whether the
successful applicant is a man or a woman, or a person of a specific
race, ethnicity, or religion. What they are looking for is a capable
person who is experienced, trustworthy, and efficient, and who will
successfully meet the demands of the job.
I know there are those who will disagree with me because they
feel that they have been removed from a position to be replaced by
a woman, a man, or by a person of another race; or they have been
64

unsuccessful in securing a position because the successful applicant
was a man, a woman, or a person of a particular race or ethnicity, or a
specific religion, or what have you. If you are seeking employment and
you are holding in your mind such ideas as these, you are prejudicing
your mind and you are building up the first great psychological obstacle
to your success in securing a new position or in securing a promotion
in your present position.
Too many employees today fail to realize that the business world
demands efficiency. Capability is the standard by which every
successful business gauges its employees. And while there may be some
employers who intentionally employee inexperienced and untrained
people as a cost-saving strategy because they can get away with paying
these employees less, sooner or later such employers will learn an
invaluable lesson: namely, that they will receive in return exactly the
level of efficiency and capability that they pay for. Therefore, because
capability is the standard by which successful businesses gauge their
employees, if you want to be successful in your business career, you
will avoid seeking positions with employers who do not have such a
standard for the selection of their employees.
It is therefore quite evident that when one seeks a new position or
promotion in business, ideas about prejudice blocking ones way should
be laid aside and immediately dismissed. As a seeker of employment,
you should analyze yourself and your capabilities, with no other
thought in mind than that you must discover and determine how well
qualified you are as an individual to fill the position you are seeking.
These remarks are preliminary to some of the important things I
would impress upon your mind as a seeker of employment.
In interviewing hundreds of persons each year who are seeking new
positions or better positions, and who tell me of their failures to secure
what they seek, I find that they generally have a tendency to blame
their failure upon certain preconceived ideas or false beliefs that they
have established in their minds.
Foremost among the false beliefs is the idea that pull, or personal
influence of some kind, is a very important factor. I have found from
my own experience, and in conversation with many thousands of
65

business people, that the only way in which they have ever noticed
that pull or influence brought someone into their employ was through
the assistance of another in letting someone else know that there
was a vacancy. In other words, lets assume that a top administrator is
contemplating hiring a new administrative assistant or a new department
manager, and expresses this intention to a friend, remarking that if
the friend knows of a very capable and efficient person, the friend
should suggest that person contact the administrator. And if the
applicant is truly as capable, efficient, and qualified for the position as
the administrator would expect such a new employee to be, then he
or she may be hired to fill that position. And in this way it might be
said that some pull or influence enabled the employee to secure a very
fine position. But you will note that I have distinctly said that if the
employee was as capable and efficient as the employer expected, then
the employee might secure the position.
I know that business people will not engage an employee of inferior
qualifications or capabilities just because that person comes well
recommended from some friend or has some pull or influence with
some acquaintance, with the employer, or with the business concern.
In fact, I know of thousands of instances where influence and socalled pull have tried to place an unqualified or partially qualified
person in an important position, but when the employer interviewed
the applicant, and found the applicant unworthy of the position, the
influence of friend or family, or even the political or financial pull of
important members of the firm, has failed to secure the position for
that applicant.
Of course it is quite natural for many employees to consider
themselves to be as well qualified for many positions as those who are
employed alongside them in a business, and it is also natural for them
to feel, when one of their colleagues or associates has been promoted
to a higher position, that some influence has been brought to bear in
making the selection. Natural though that feeling may be, it is generally
wrong. Thus, the employee who has failed to be promoted, or who has
failed to secure an expected position, and who blames his failure on
influence and pull, is generally doing himself or herself an injustice, as
well as doing an injustice to the successful applicant.
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The moment we attribute our failure in securing anything in life
to the exterior influences which we imagine exist, we shut the door
against self-analysis and fail to learn an invaluable lesson. The man
or woman who fails in securing a desired position, or a desired favor
at the hands of another, should turn that failure into a very valuable
steppingstone to rise higher. This person should immediately proceed
to discover why the other person succeeded and why he or she
failed, and if this examination and analysis is properly conducted and
conscientiously carried out, it will probably enable the unsuccessful
applicant to discover how she or he may improve and prepare for a
more successful attempt.
Many businesses promote employees from lower to higher
echelons as employees demonstrate proficiency in their present jobs
and potential for promotion to positions of greater responsibility.
However, sometimes there is a point in the promotion ladder for each
employee where further promotion is not possible, regardless of the
employees efficiency and proficiency in the present job, and in spite of
the fact that there may be openings for employees at higher levels in
the business. Needless to say, this can be very frustrating. Therefore,
when employees find that they have reached a point where they can
no longer secure promotion and find that others are being brought
in from outside the business to fill positions which these employees
feel perfectly capable of filling, they should not attribute the hiring
of others as due to influence, nor even feel that their failure to be
promoted is due to incapability on their part. Such employees should
have a frank talk with their employer or manager to discover whether
they have truly reached the height of their efficiency with that firm,
or whether further training and education might help such employees
secure higher positions.
The one thing that warrants employers in promoting employees is
the spirit of service. Employees who gives only as much time and labor
and thought to their work as they are paid for are sure to find at the
end of the year that they are being paid only for what they are giving.
Employees who feel that they are hired and paid for doing eight hours
work a day, and that the giving of a ninth hour should be compensated
for as extra labor, will eventually find that promotions do not come
67

their way, and even increases in salary are delayed or refused. On the
other hand, employees who show that they are eager to help in every
department of the business while specializing in none, and who hurry
through their assigned work in order to make their willingness to work
in other departments quite evident to their employer, may give the
employer the impression that they are not sufficiently focused on their
assigned work, and not giving it the careful attention that it deserves.
I have actually seen employees who were busy helping in so many
departments, and trying to make themselves useful in more ways than
they were engaged to be, lose their positions in a few months because
the employer felt that they were not focusing their attention and their
efforts on the assigned work, and therefore were neglecting some
aspect of it, or failing to find in their particular work the possibilities
of growth and extra efforts that were close at hand. However, it is
natural that an employer will appreciate every special effort and every
extended endeavor that an employee puts into the business, regardless
of the time clock or the salary being paid.
I have heard so many employees say that if their employer would give
them a little interest in the business, or even a fractional percentage of
the profits being accrued, they would be willing to put more personal
interest into the work at hand. And while profit sharing may act as a
good incentive, employees should be willing to give employers their
best efforts, regardless of whether the employer shares the firms
profits with them or pays a straight salary. Let your employer discover
that you have more than merely a salary interest in the business, and
the employer will gladly see to it that you are compensated accordingly.
The demonstration must begin on your part and not on the part of
the employer.
Another issue that is responsible for many employees losing their
positions, or failing to be promoted, is the lack of loyalty to the
employer or the institution wherein they are employed. Taking time
off to seek better positions, or stealing occasional minutes to interview
someone about a position in another firm or ways and means for
securing promotion, have caused many employees to lose their
positions. An employer has a right to believe that you should be loyal
to your position and to your employer and that while you are working
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for your employer you are devoting all your energy and attention to
your job. To discover an employee seeking another position outside of
the firm is a signal to any employer to release that employee and secure
another one. The employer does not want to be caught off guard by
having you suddenly resign, thus leaving your position unfilled and
your work unattended to. If an employer believes you are seeking
another position outside the firm, the employer is apt to feel that you
are undependable and not loyal.
For the same reason, thousands of persons seeking employment
fail to secure desirable positions for which they may be well qualified
in a mental or physical way. Such persons frankly tell their prospective
employers that they have worked for a number of different firms,
but have left each one because they wanted to improve themselves or
secure a better position. To an employer this admission signifies that
the applicant is not dependable, and that to engage this person today
may mean losing him or her a month from now. And if there is any
one thing that harasses, bothers, annoys, and infuriates an employer
as to help, it is to be constantly seeking new employees, interviewing
them, and training them in their positions.
On the other hand, the employee who thinks that he or she will
take advantage of this fact, and demands to be promoted or given an
increase in salary so as to avoid vacating his or her position and causing
the employer the trouble of seeking a new employee, is proceeding
very foolishly and against his or her own best interests. Any employer
would rather go through all of the tiresome procedure of seeking
and interviewing new applicants, and having them trained into new
positions, than to be subjected to such coercion.
From a mystical or cosmic point of view, loyalty to your employer is
the keynote to success for those who are employed, and such loyalty is
not only of the physical body, but of the mind and heart. And it is not
something that exists only for eight hours while at the office or on the
job, but should be here twenty-four hours a day.
Every employer realizes that an employee may be worth more to
the employers competitors, or to someone else in a similar line of
business needing a similar person, than the employee is to him or her.
69

Therefore, most employers try to offer the most competitive salaries
and benefits that they can afford in order to attract good employees and
retain their valued employees. However, in return, employers expect
and count on the loyalty and reliability of their employees. Employers
often offer training and educational benefits to their employees, with
the dual purpose of improving and expanding the employees skills and
efficiency while also expanding and building the employers business
through better-trained and more efficient employees. However,
employees who take advantage of this by seeking employment
elsewhere upon the completion of their training, are not doing their
employer or themselves any favors. Chances are that a new or potential
employer will cast a wary eye on the employee who has jeopardized
the former employers faith by leaving after receiving training. In the
minds of most employers this raises a warning signal and a wariness
concerning the potential employees faithfulness and trustworthiness.
Cosmically speaking, the inexperienced employee who does this sort
of thing brings about a karmic condition upon himself or herself that
may bring failure and discontent for some time.
Let me give you a practical example of how karma works in this
regard. A person who has just graduated from a business course
applies for a position in a corporation. The employer, who needs
another person trained in this particular position, hires the applicant
and proceeds to use the corporations time and equipment, including
the time and assistance of a number of the other employees, to train
and educate this new employee so that he or she will learn the job
and become proficient and efficient in this particular job. To start off,
the employer is paying the new employee the traineea nominal
salary, with the promise that once the employee is trained and then
successfully applies the results of this training on the job, there
will be an increase in salary. During the training the new untrained
employee is probably in fact receiving more salary than he or she is
actually worth or is actually earning in that position. According to the
law of averages in business, the new employee-in-training is probably
receiving seventy-five percent more salary than he or she is actually
worth to the employer when it is taken into consideration that the
employers time and the time of a number of other employees must be
used to help the new employee become completely familiar with the
70

duties of the job. However, the employer is investing time and money
into the training of this new employee with the expectation that in
future months and years this newly-trained employee will successfully
apply the results of the training and earn the company more money,
bring the company more customers and more business, and thus the
employers investment of time and energy into the training of this new
employee will eventually pay off.
However, after the first six months have passed, the new employee,
convinced that he or she has truly earned every cent received, demands
a substantial increase in salary. The employer realizes that instead of
now having the opportunity to make good on the investment of time
and money in the training of this new employee, the employer must
either meet the substantially higher salary demands and continue to
lose money on this employee, or face the reality of losing the employee
and having to hire and train another applicant. In the employees mind,
however, there is but one thought: he or she is now trained and, with the
six months of experience, can go to another similar business and find
a similar job at a higher salary. In other words, this employee is ready
to take advantage of the training and experience provided at someone
elses expense, and turn it to profit ungrateful and unmindful of
the obligation owed to his or her present employer. Being refused a
substantial increase in salary, the employee leaves the present employer
and goes to another business.
A record carefully kept of 1,000 employees doing this sort of
thing has shown that at the end of a year these employees were again
out of positions, and in two years their changes in positions, with
periods of unemployment, showed that they had earned less in the
two years through their many changes than they would have earned
had they remained in their initial positions, learned more on their
jobs, and successfully applied what they learned to make themselves
more valuable to their employers which would undoubtedly have
gained them the higher salaries they were seeking. Furthermore, their
continuous changing of positions has given them a record which no
employer values, and they soon find themselves among the ranks of
the unemployed, and disgruntled, discontented, and suspicious of the
entire employment system.
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In seeking a position, therefore, be sure that you are well qualified,
that you are ready to give it your loyalty and entire support, and that
you are willing to work with the concern for such a length of time
as enables it to secure from your services such reward as will make
increases profitable to them and to you. If you are seeking promotion
in your present concern or position, you will be sure of securing it if
you give less thought to the promotion or to the possibility that lies
before you, and more thought during your business hours to the work
you have at hand.
Let your thinking about your advancement or change in position
occur during your hours of relaxation while you are at home; and rather
than concentrate upon your employers mind with all kinds of silly
demands that he or she grant your request for promotion, concentrate
your mind for a moment or two on yourself, and see if you can find
how you can go into your present position the next morning and do
your work a little better, or improve the affairs of your business for
your employer and thereby attract the employers attention to your
desires. In appealing to the Cosmic, or through any mystical laws, for
advancement, promotion, or the securing of a new position, be sure
that you have in mind a definite position in a definite line of work of
which you are capable and in which you can demonstrate efficiency.
In interviewing an employer regarding a change or a new position,
follow the suggestions given in the next chapter about interviewing and
selling, for you must sell yourself. But in addition to following those
suggestions, be sure that you make it plain to your employer that you
are not offering the employer just your eight hours of physical labor
each day, but you are offering your best mental services, your loyalty,
your interest, and that degree of efficiency which may be expected.
With all of these suggestions in mind, and with the advice given in
future chapters, you should be able to make your life as an employee
just as successful and profitable to you as any business in which you
might engage yourself and become an employer.
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Chapter 8
IMPRESSING OTHERS
Just as you cannot send a message to someone if you do not know
what it is you wish to say, neither can you convey an idea from your
mind to the mind of another if you do not have a clear picture of
that idea in your mind to begin with.
HERE ARE CERTAIN psychological principles that may be

used and applied very efficiently, even by those who have not
taken a thorough course in the subpsychology or who have not
had long experience with the intricate principles involved. The most
careful use of these psychological principles in connection with that
of impressing the mind of another person and the art of making the
proper impression is very important to those who are attempting to
convey a message of a definite nature.
Whether you are trying to sell some merchandise to a person, or
sell yourself, it is absolutely necessary that you create in the mind of
your prospective buyer a duplicate of the picture that you have in
your mind. Really it is the art of thought transference, but instead of
being accomplished by the process of mental telepathy exclusively, you
have the additional advantage of using words and using some other
psychological laws that I will explain.
With some persons, the most difficult thing in the world is to talk to
another and talk so impressively or so efficiently that the correct message
is conveyed. Many persons find it more convenient and certainly more
efficient to write letters than to talk, and I have known hundreds of
successful salespeople who did all their selling by correspondence and
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who were eminently successful. However, the moment they faced a
prospective buyer and attempted to say in words what they had been
accustomed to saying in letters, they became self-conscious, unfocused
in their concentration, and weak in their presentation.
If you are one of those persons who can write a strong letter or
message and present your proposition in writing better than you can
in person, you certainly have an advantage and I question whether
it will pay you to attempt to change your methods. But if you are
in a position where you must face your prospective buyer, or where
personal interviews are absolutely necessary, then there are certain
principles that you can use and which will make your work more sure
of results.
As I have said above, whether you are selling merchandise, or
applying for a position, or seeking favors or benefits of any kind, you
are either selling some material thing or selling yourself. In either case,
you must create in the mind of your prospective buyer, or the person
you are interviewing, that sort of impression and that sort of picture
which you already have in your own mind.
Just as you cannot send a message to someone if you do not know
what it is you wish to say, neither can you convey an idea from your
mind to the mind of another if you do not have a clear picture of that
idea in your mind to begin with. What you want your prospective buyer
to build up in his or her mind must be so concrete and definite in your
own mind that you never have to hesitate a moment in the process of
transferring the impression from your mind to the buyers mind.
On the other hand, you cannot convey to the mind of another
person an impression of positive affirmation and of wholehearted
conviction, if in your own mind the impression you have there is weak
or negative, or the opposite of what you wish to convey.
In other words, you cannot face your interviewer and glibly talk,
positively, about the goodness and merits of something you wish to
sell, while in your own mind there is doubt about the goodness of the
product and a conviction that the product has no merit. You can train
your lips to speak a lie, and you can glibly juggle your words so that you
74

are conveying a double meaning, but you cannot trick your mind into
forgetting the facts it knows and creating momentarily a false picture
in agreement with the false words you are speaking.
The average business executive who is accustomed to dealing with
salespeople or interviewing persons who are seeking favors, benefits,
or assistance, is keenly aware of the vibrating impressions from the
mind of the speaker, and I will tell you frankly that I know thousands
of such business people who secretly admit that they seldom pay as
much attention to the words being spoken by their interviewer as they
do to the thought impressions they are receiving in between the words.
I know from my own experience, and from the experience of many
business executives and managers who have discussed this matter with
me, that very often they reach a conclusion as to what they are going
to do long before the salesperson or the interviewer is halfway through
talking. Often after the first half-dozen words are spoken by the
salesperson or interviewer, the business executive who is listening has
received direct from the mind of the talker an impression that all is not
as it seems and that the sales representative is attempting to fool, trick,
or deceive the executive, through his or her sales pitch. Under such
circumstances, most business people immediately decide that they will
not buy and will not grant the requests being asked, and nothing that
the salesperson or the interviewer says changes that impression.
The very opposite of this is also true. The average busy person in
big business will often interrupt a salesperson or an interviewer by
saying: All right, I will accept, or I agree, or I will grant what
you wish. It would appear that the business executive has made up
his or his mind before the interviewer or talker has half explained the
proposition. Some who witness such circumstances may think this is
due to the fact that the business executive has a hunch or some intuitive
way of deciding what should be done. However, this is not true. The
business person has simply received from the interviewers mind an
impression that reached him or her before the interviewer had spoken
a half-dozen words. Busy people in business have little time for long
discussions and lengthy interviews. If they can pick up impressions
from a salespersons mind mentally in a moment, they would rather
75

have it that way than wait a half-hour to eventually reach a conclusion
after a long series of complex statements and descriptive explanations.
From all of this you will see that the salesperson who attempts,
nowadays, to sell something that has no real merit, or in which he or she
has little faith or confidence, is lost unless that salesperson is going to
try to sell the product to ignorant, unsophisticated, and inexperienced
buyers. Even there the seller may fail because it must be remembered
that a lack of education and culture does not prevent the human mind
from being very sensitive to mental impressions. Many people lacking
sophistication or education are nevertheless mighty sensitive in reading
the auras and mental impressions of those trying to take advantage of
them. Salespeople, or anyone else, who think they can take advantage
of uneducated persons or untutored and unlettered minds and work a
trick upon their inner intelligence are very apt to be fooled.
In trying to sell yourself to a prospective buyer, whether it be by
seeking a promotion in business, a new position, or some special
service you wish to render, remember that your own real opinion
of yourself and of your service counts far more than the beautiful
description that you present through words, or which may be glowingly
stated in a number of testimonial letters you ask the buyer to read. If
you doubt your own ability to fill the position you are seeking, if you
have the least doubt in your mind about your efficiency or capability
for the service you wish to render, do not think that you can buffalo
your average business person by egotistical statements that are nicely
worded. Glowing promises mean very little to people in business. They
naturally assume that anyone who wants to work for them or serve
them is going to try to do their best. The mere fact that you say you will
do your best means nothing. The employer wants to know what your
best really is, and if you have any doubt in the back of your mind as to
how good that best is, the prospective employer is going to discover it
very soon.
Many persons are full of promises in their interviews, and then
they are about as dry as the Sahara Desert when it comes to making
good those promises. The most promising thing I ever heard of was
a Mississippi steamboat that had a twenty-two-inch whistle, and a
76

sixteen-inch steam boiler, and when it was ready to start away from
the dock, it blew its whistle with such strong, promising tones that it
exhausted its steam and moved backward.
So the first thing to do is to have the proper determination in your
mind and a very complete, definite picture of the real service you wish
to render, or the true value of the goods or things you wish to sell.
If you are attempting to sell merchandise, whether it be stocks and
bonds or articles of commerce, be sure you are so familiar with what
you are selling that not only can you completely answer any question
that is asked, but you can close your eyes and in a moment see an
entire picture of the article from the time it began in its process of
manufacture from the raw materials, to the last moment of its delivery.
Unless you are well versed and very familiar with the product you are
offering to someone else, do not assume that you have a clear conception
of the product at all. While you are talking to your prospective buyer,
he or she will be receiving from your mind the precise picture you
have in your mind, and if it is blurry or unclear, he or she will receive
the same sort of reaction, regardless of the nice caption and glowing
billboards that you paint for the prospective buyers to look at. Telling
your prospective buyers all about what you have to offer, and at the
same time having a poor picture in your mind, is like showing your
customers the posters outside movie theatres, with all their glowing
colors and provocative statements. They will tell you that the movie
playing inside is what they want to see. Therefore, what you picture
within yourself should be more definite and more clear-cut than what
you or any poet or literary master could ever picture in words.
The next important point is to convey to your prospective buyer the
fact that you are steadfast, honest, straightforward, and businesslike.
Not only should your conversation be brief, your statements definite
and to the point, and your whole attitude that of poise and selfconfidence, but your every glance and movement should indicate a
sureness and conviction that are unmistakable.
People in business do not necessarily appreciate sales representatives
or interviewers who assume an attitude of humility. They are not
necessarily impressed by salespeople who apologize for taking their
77

time to explain what they have to offer. If you are doubtful as to
whether what you have to offer is of value to the customer, do not pay
her or him a call until you are sure about the value of the product. If
you have the slightest feeling that you are taking up a business persons
time without profit to him or her, then do not go near that person.
Unless you feel from the bottom of your heart to the top of your
head, that your time in their presence will result in profit to them and
benefit their business, as well as making a profit for yourself, do not
bother them. Apologizing for your intrusion, or for the time you take,
is merely another way of saying to your prospective customer that you
do not believe you are going to show them any profit in what you are
presenting, and that after all they are going to be the loser whether they
buy your product or not; and you may just as well save your time and
theirs at the beginning.
Of course, if you are asking merely for a favor, wherein all the profit
is for yourself and none at all for the other person, you may properly
explain your regrets for taking some of their valuable time in such a
selfish manner. But if you have something really of merit to offer in
the way of merchandise or your own personal services, and you believe
what you have to offer is of benefit or value to the other person, do
not apologize for taking his or her time. Business people appreciate
having meritorious proposals brought to their attention, and make it
their business to see and interview expert salespeople or persons who
have something definite to say.
One of the sure signs of weakness in character, and inefficiency in
mental ability, is the shifting eye. You will notice that often business
executives and managers place their desks so that those who call
on them or come to see them will be facing toward the light, while
the executives or managers will face away from the light. This is so
they can carefully observe and study the changing facial expressions
of their visitors or those whom they are interviewing, and so that
their visitors the persons talking to them cannot so readily see
or observe the subtle changes of expression on the executives face.
Because of their many responsibilities for the ongoing success and
stability of the companies they manage, business leaders have good
reason to be concerned about the character and integrity of those
78

whom they are interviewing. As the person being interviewed, you
should not look upon this as being placed at a disadvantage, for if you
are wise and adept you will take advantage of the situation and face
the light as well as your interviewers critical scrutiny, and fear nothing.
In fact, you will make your face and your eyes serve your purpose, as I
will explain in a few moments.
Of course it is understood that you will never go into the presence
of another person seeking favors, benefits, or aid, or attempting
to sell or promote any idea, if you are slovenly dressed, careless in
your appearance, foul of breath, or inconsiderate and uncordial in
your attitude. Approaching your prospective buyer or customer, you
should hold the positive affirmation in your mind that you are going to
succeed, not by overpowering or hypnotizing the buyer, not by having
the Cosmic super-induce a state of mental coma wherein the buyer
knows nothing, says nothing, thinks nothing but what you describe
in words. The Cosmic will not aid in such a method, through any law
or principle of the universe. If you want to throw your prospective
customer into a state of mental aberration, you will have to do it by
the charm of your personality and the goodness and greatness of your
proposition.
There is one method, however, whereby you can keep your listener,
whoever he or she may be, from letting his or her mind wander while
you are speaking, or from coming to a conclusion too quickly. It is
a method used by the most successful salespeople throughout the
world and by diplomats, detectives, judges of the court, criminologists,
psychologists, and mystics. It is a method whereby you can stand before
your prospective customer or any other person and say what you have
to say, provided it is the truth, and then make the other person realize
it is the truth and cause that person to judge your statements and your
mental pictures correctly.
The method is simply this: The moment you begin speaking to the
person whom you wish to convince, be sure to concentrate your eyes
all the time you are speaking on the center of the persons nose just
between the eyebrows. That point of the nose is called the root of the
nose, and if you concentrate your gaze there, you will be concentrating
upon the root of the persons attention. You will find that the other
79

person will gaze back into your eyes, and he or she will feel the steadfast,
permanent, convincing glance and mental attitude on your part. If you
have to close your eyes or change your gaze from that position while
talking to the person, do not drop your eyes and look down to the
floor or down to your lap or your hands or anything that is lower than
the level of the other persons face, but rather shift your eyes or your
glance sideways to something in the room that is on a level with his or
her face. You can rest your eyes for a moment this way, and then bring
them back to a definite view upon the root of the persons nose.
Do not attempt to stare with wide open eyes at the other person,
for he or she will become uncomfortable and suspicious of your
motives, and you will be dismissed instantly. Let your eyes have just a
perfectly natural look, and merely center them on the root of the other
persons nose, instead of looking at details of the persons clothing or
the papers on the desk or at your own hands or feet. Every downward
glance on your part weakens your impression. Do not attempt to get
close to the other person, but stay at a respectful distance. Talk softly
and in a monotone. Do not try to give emphasis to certain words by
pronouncing them loudly, for that will disturb the mind of the listener
and upset the rhythm of the listeners thinking. Do not lean on the desk,
or in any other way impose your physical self on the other persons
territory. Do not become familiar, intimate, or personal. If you know
the person in a friendly way, reserve your personal, friendly, more
casual approach for hours after business. Make your conversations
brief and to the point.
If, when all this is done, the prospective customer suggests
postponing a decision, do not attempt to urge him or her to make an
immediate decision, for the client will become suspicious. Rome was
not built in a day, and whether the customer buys something from you
or not, today or tomorrow, will not ruin or wreck his or her business.
If the service or the thing you have to offer is any good at all, it will
be just as good tomorrow as it is today. If you are fearful because the
buyer does not accept it right away, you will convince the buyer that he
or she will gain more by rejecting it than by accepting it.
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Even in public speaking, and in dealing in business matters or in
personal matters, be sure to always gaze at the person you are talking to
with your eyes centered as instructed above. This will evoke a mental
impression of a strong, magnetic personality, and it will tend to keep
your listener from wandering away mentally in a field of speculation,
and you will hold the listener fast to your line of thought.
A thousand people have told me of a thousand instances where
this formula saved the day. It may not be mystical, it may not even be
psychological, but it works.
81
Chapter 9
AN UNUSUAL HELP IN
NEED
How can one person influence the mind of another so that the
thoughts, ideas, pictures, facts, and impressions implanted in the mind
will stay there and continue revealing themselves . . . ?
NE OF MY good friends who is also a member of our

organization, once wrote a very fetching story entitled, A
Plea for Hypocrisy, in which she very capably outlined
the benefit that all of us derive from some mild forms of amusing
hypocrisy in our lives. I feel that before my readers are through with
this chapter in my book they will believe I have written something that
should be entitled, A Plea for Superstition.
Nevertheless, it is strange how many superstitious beliefs most of us
really have and how greatly we are affected by them. You have heard of
the sane, conservative business professional who laughed at a friends
superstitious belief regarding the raising of an umbrella indoors, and
yet when walking on the street, goes out of his way to avoid walking
under a ladder. In my contact with business people throughout
numerous industries, trades, arts, and professions, I have found that
nearly every one of them has some sort of superstitious belief that he
or she indignantly refuses to have labeled as superstition, and denies as
merely a belief. Most of them take great pains and considerable time
to explain to me that the strange little conviction that is in their mind
is based not upon faith but upon practical experience, and therefore is
neither a belief nor a superstition.
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We are told that sailors are the most superstitious persons in the
world, but I would like to find a business professional who is always
ready and willing to start a new proposition or make a big investment
on a day that happens to be Friday the thirteenth; and I would like
to find the business person who is always willing to be the thirteenth
director in a new company; or business people, who are willing to
hand over money toward a new investment just after a black cat has
crossed their path. These persons will adamantly deny that they have
any superstitious beliefs.
Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that most of the superstitious
beliefs that have come down through the ages and still grip us with
their possibilities, and hold us with their potential powers, are those
which are actually based upon some scientific principle. I will grant
you that walking under a ladder is a risky thing at any time, especially
if the ladder is not well grounded and there is a person with a paint
pot somewhere above. But there are many other superstitious beliefs
or practices that deal with vital principles not so obviously connected
with serious possibilities.
We hear men and women who are dealing with the important
material things of life speaking of such conditions as luck and chance.
While they may not go so far as to walk around their chairs four times
just after a new deal of the cards, or slap the top of their heads three
times after they have placed a marker on the board at the side of the
roulette wheel, still they are prone to do other things that they believe
will assure their success in the undertaking at hand.
Recently, the president of one of the largest coal combines in
America came from Chicago to have a business consultation with me
in San Jose. Whenever he finds that talking to me from New York,
Pittsburgh, Chicago, or Salt Lake, on the telephone is too slow, he
drops in to see me. During his last conversation, he told me how a
president of one of the banks with which he does business in Chicago
carries a lucky coin in his pocket, and he takes hold of it and grips it
tightly whenever he is dealing with an important matter, because he
has found that the vibrations from this coin bring him luck. The
coal magnate smiled at the story he was telling, and then he presented
83

me with a paperweight of a novel design for my desk, which was a
duplicate of the one he had on his desk in his office in Chicago. He
said it was the symbolic design of a large banking institution in New
York, and that his paperweight was a reminder to him to consult them
in regard to extraordinary matters, because he found he had better
luck in dealing with that firm than with any other. Of course he had
no superstition at all!
Now the truth of the matter is that there is one unusual practice
used by so-called mystics, especially by business men and women who
have heard of it, who have tried it first in a halfhearted way, and then
found reason to pin their faith to the principle involved. I am going to
explain it to you, and I suppose that the result will be that one hundred
or more of you will go about your business affairs from now on doing
this strange little thing, much to the amusement of your partners and
let us say to the consternation of your business competitors.
Perhaps you have heard of the peculiar trick of crossing your
fingers, and keeping them crossed while you are awaiting the result
of some plan or the decision of some person who holds the key
to solving your immediate problem. Perhaps you have thought that
crossing your fingers or keeping them crossed was a superstitious
practice, and perhaps it really is. I do not know about this, but I do
know that it works. I have found a very satisfactory explanation for
the practice, and whether you accept my explanation or not, you are at
perfect liberty to try the formula and cross your fingers whenever you
wish, and keep them crossed for as long as you like. If this practice
does not bring the unusual results that others have secured, you are
again at liberty to condemn the thing as a foolish superstition. On the
other hand, if you secure unusual results, you are at liberty to attribute
the success to the little superstitious practice.
I have found that when a person has visualized and built up in
the mind some plan, desire, or picture representing what she or he
wants from someone else, that the most difficult thing is to keep this
picture in mind and have it radiate in the form of mental vibrations
to the mind of the other person without interruption and without
interference. I am speaking now about the man or woman who is about
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to interview another person, or has just completed such an interview,
seeking or suggesting that certain things be done which can be done by
the person being interviewed, but which may not be done because of
interference, forgetfulness, or some other interruption preventing the
plan from being carried out.
Take, for instance, the individual who goes to a banker and explains
the need for a loan. This person uses every convincing argument
to show the banker that the loan is not only needed, but is a safe
and businesslike proposition. The banker listens carefully and makes
certain notations, but defers giving a definite answer until the next
day. The person who wants the loan realizes that after leaving the
bankers presence, other problems and matters may arise, diverting
the bankers attention away from the favorable impression left by the
loan applicants interview. A person in this situation always feels that if
there was some way whereby he or she could hold the bankers mind
in the same receptive and favorable condition that it was during the
interview, there would be no question about a favorable decision a
few hours or a few days later. The problem for the loan applicant is to
somehow keep the bankers mind impressed with the favorable picture
created in the interview.
Or, take the example of a woman or man talking to a prospective
buyer of a piece of property. The seller does his or her level best to
create in the mind of the prospective buyer an excellent picture of the
property and a favorable impression. The buyer decides to give his or
her answer a few days later. The problem here, again, is to prevent the
picture from fading out of the mind of the prospective buyer and to
keep the favorable impression constantly alive and vibrating.
Or, take the woman or man who interviews a prospective employer.
After partially convincing the employer, the applicant is told that a
final decision will be made a few days later. Other applicants are to
be interviewed. A confusion of pictures and facts will be built up in
the employers mind, and it will be difficult for the employer to recall
clearly the next day the fine, definite picture which the applicant of
today created in the employers mind. The problem here is for the
applicant to keep his or her impression in the mind of the employer
until a decision is made.
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How can one person influence the mind of another so that the
thoughts, ideas, pictures, facts, and impressions implanted in the mind
will stay there and continue revealing themselves like a movie running
through his or her consciousness, until he or she cannot eliminate them
except by acting upon them and bringing the matter to a conclusion?
You would probably agree with me that if there was a method for
accomplishing this, it would not only be a legitimate thing to do as
long as we were not violating any ethical laws of business or cosmic
principlesbut it would also be an invaluable aid to everyone.
Crossing the fingers will accomplish this very thing. I have found
it to work in many cases, and I daily hear from those who have had
it recommended to them by some acquaintance and have found
it successful in the first trial. Whatever faith you may put in the
explanation I am going to give you may or may not have a bearing
upon its successful operation when you use it, but at least you may try
it without jeopardizing any of your interests and without injury to your
dignity and pride.
We know from psychological laws and principles, as well as from
mystical practices, that the forefinger and second finger on each hand
are the terminals of certain nerves that have to do with the centers
of visualization in the mind and the radiation of psychic waves in the
process of telepathy. We know that these two fingers on each hand play
an important part in so-called magnetic healing, or contact treatment
work where the hands come in contact with the nerve centers of other
bodies. We know that all through history these two fingers, with the
addition of the thumb, have been used symbolically as the fingers
from which there are potent radiations, often believed to be spiritual
radiations, but now known to be magnetic or of the nature of the
mental essence.
A few years ago, an eminent European scientist discovered that by
pinching certain parts of the fingers, the outward flow of this same
energy could be short-circuited for the relief of pain in various parts
of the body. It was later found that all that was really done was to
affect the mental activity of the consciousness. I could point out many
other reasons to show that there is a relationship between the first
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and second finger of each hand, and the peculiar mental and psychic
functions of the human mind. But in this discussion I am not dealing
with metaphysics or with other matters that are wholly within the realm
of the traditional teachings of the Rosicrucian Order. I am dealing
solely with the application of some principles to business affairs.
Now, according to the explanation that I have worked out, and
which has been accepted by hundreds of persons who have delved
deeply into the possibilities of this explanation, I am convinced
that whenever we have mentally built up a definite picture or idea,
thought or impression, which we are conveying to another mind, that a
radiation can be created. As soon as we have completed the picture or
impression in our mind and have expressed it to the mind of another,
if we cross the forefinger and second finger of either hand or both
hands for a half hour or so, the impression thus created in the mind is
caused to radiate in the form of telepathic waves from our mind to the
mind of the person to whom we have just been speaking, and whose
personality we associate with the impression we have in our minds.
I have found through test and trial that if at certain hours during
the day I think of a particular person who I interviewed yesterday, and
once more build up the pictures that I had presented to that individual
in words, and then cross my fingers and hold that impression in my
mind for ten minutes, that during those minutes that person will once
again recall the impression I put into his or her mind and will think
of me and the picture or story that I left with him or her. A great
number of experiments of this kind were conducted by myself and
others for the purpose of testing the principle involved, and, as I have
said before, there are hundreds of business people who are using this
method many times a day and who do not hesitate to claim that the
final results prove its efficacy. In many cases they have been able to
ask the other person at just what hour or minute he or she had the
recurring impressions, and they have found that these periods of time
checked with the time periods during which the fingers were crossed.
I remember one case very distinctly, which I think illustrates the
whole principle involved. One afternoon, about 2:30, a man, who
had been instructed in this process, rushed to a banker to present a
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proposition calling for a loan. He found that he could have only a threeminute interview with the president of the bank, for the president was
about to leave his office and travel to another city. He promised the
client that he would decide the matter upon returning to his office
three days later. The client returned to his office after the interview,
and every half hour he sat in a relaxed position, crossed his fingers
for two minutes, and thought of the banker, while he built up again in
his own mind the picture and story that he had given to the banker in
words.
That night, at eleven oclock, the client received a message sent from
a distant city, which read as follows: Have thought of your proposition
many times during afternoon and evening, and have decided to grant
your request and am contacting my bank accordingly. When the
banker returned to his office, he was questioned by the client and
admitted that he had sent the message in order to bring the matter to a
conclusion. He wanted to make a decision because he had been unable
to think of any other matter during the afternoon and evening, and he
had to clear his mind of this recurring proposition in order to work on
matters that necessitated the business trip.
It may seem foolish to some of you to stop in the midst of your
affairs many times a day and in silence cross your fingers, and it may
even seem like a waste of time. But if you had a major proposition
pending, or an important matter hanging fire, you would not think
it foolish if it was feasible to call the other person on the phone
every half hour and remind him or her of your proposition. Such
a method would probably annoy the other individual and jeopardize
your interests. Crossing your fingers has the advantage of diplomacy,
for the other person may not be aware of your process, and it has the
additional advantage of secrecy, for you can cross your fingers behind
your back without revealing to anyone around you what you are doing,
whereas telephoning is not always a private matter.
If you have followed all the suggestions I have given in my previous
talks, you will undoubtedly find that crossing your fingers or keeping
them crossed just for luck will prove to be one of the luckiest things
you can do in bringing your affairs to a satisfactory conclusion.
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Thus I make a plea for one form of superstition at least. And so far
as I am personally concerned, I care little whether some practices are
superstitious or not, so long as they work and produce results, and I
have an explanation as to how they work that enables me to apply the
process intelligently and understandingly. After all, that is as much as
we can say about many things in life, and especially in connection with
business and social affairs as we meet them in our business and home
activities.
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Chapter 10
THE LAW OF
COMPENSATION
Many people appeal to the Cosmic or to the laws of psychology or
mysticism for aid in their predicaments, yet they cannot show that at
any time in the past have they cooperated with the Cosmic in liberally
helping others.
UMAN BEINGS HAVE attempted to reduce to material

form the cosmic law of compensation, although they have
made a miserable failure of it in most ways. Nevertheless,
spiritually minded business people, or mystical workers in the field of
business, have succeeded in establishing in their own lives and in their
affairs, some principles that are truly representative of the cosmic law
of compensation.
As I have said in the preceding chapters of this book, money as a
means for rewarding and compensating people for their efforts is a
false and arbitrary medium, created by human beings without having
the least relationship to the ideals of cosmic law. It is fortunate,
however, that while we on the one hand attempt to compensate those
who work for us and those who contribute to our needs by paying
them money, the cosmic law of compensation also operates to bring
to each one of us a true compensation for what we have done. And
in each element wherein our method of compensation fails to reward
or punish adequately for each good or evil deed, cosmic law properly,
efficiently, and sufficiently compensates and makes full adjustment.
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Individuals may scheme and plan to prevent the cosmic law of
compensation from operating in their individual situations, and they
may try to stop the great cosmic laws from adequately adjusting the
compensation for their acts. They may even succeed for a time in
escaping what they believe is imminent, but it is a fact that no one has
ever successfully avoided, evaded, or escaped the operation of cosmic
law completely and continuously. Men and women may cheat one
another of their just rewards, and people and corporations may fail
willfully or unconsciously to make proper compensation to those who
work for them, but cosmic law never fails. It is immutable, of course,
but it is also fair, just, and truly worthy of our admiration when once
we understand the principles of cosmic compensation.
Both employers and employees in major corporations and small
businesses alike must all realize that injustice, unfair dealing, evil doing,
and evil thinking will bring into operation the law of compensation
as established in the Cosmic, and that there is no escape from the
operation of this law. The employer or employee who plans to take
advantage of another human being, or of a group of human beings,
including the citizens of a city, state, or nation, must expect the law of
compensation to operate sooner or later and bring punishment to the
mind and interests of the person who planned the injustice.
Although it is often said that the law of compensation does not
always bring an immediate manifestation of its operation, people do
not necessarily always have to wait until the close of their lives to see
the results of this cosmic law. There is no warrant for the belief that
the law of compensation defers its reward until the close of life. I
believe this common misunderstanding is due to the teachings of
certain religious doctrines that refer to the ultimate rewards that all
good people will receive in some future state; but so far as cosmic law
is concerned, it makes compensation adequately and properly in such
ways and at such times as will render the most help and benefit to the
deserving one.
For many business professionals with whom I have come in contact,
their faith and trust in the operation of the law of compensation is
solid and secure. I have met many business people who believe most
implicitly that whenever they do a kindness or an unselfish act for
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someone else or contribute in any way to the health and happiness of
others, they can expect some reward or some cosmic blessing, suddenly
and uniquely, at almost the following hour. They have learned from
experience that the Cosmic brings its rewards not only suddenly, but at
a most propitious moment, and that by helping others or contributing
in whatever way they can to the needs and happiness of another, they
are accruing a certain amount of cosmic blessing or help that will come
to them just when they need it, and as they need it.
I do not mean to imply that such persons constantly have in mind
a reward or return of their blessings whenever they do something for
someone else. I have noticed from many reports, and from intimate
contact with those who follow such principles in their lives, that most of
the unselfish or kindly acts performed by these persons are unplanned
and wholly spontaneous, and that it is only as they are performing the
act or immediately thereafter, that they realize that in compensation
for their rashness or liberality there will be the proper return. It is only
natural for someone to promptly question the logic of a spontaneous act
or sudden urge, and to wonder whether it is worthwhile, diplomatic, or
reasonable. It is at such moments of consideration of the spontaneous
act that these persons generally conclude that even though it is sudden
and probably urged by an emotional impulse, the Cosmic is conscious
of the urge and the wholehearted response to it, and will compensate
accordingly.
Let me illustrate how such cooperation with cosmic law can really
become a valuable asset in ones life. For a number of years I was
closely associated with, and adviser to, Mr. William Woodbury, who
was a wealthy New Yorker given to the study of human needs. His
business affairs with which I was connected were of such a nature as
to permit him to have ample time for personal matters and provided
him with an income sufficient to allow him to indulge in any of the
costly hobbies and practices which often become the ruination of
many wealthy individuals. Mr. Woodbury, however, decided that he
would get more pleasure out of life if he could evolve some plans
for helping the worthy and needy who wanted to help themselves. He
had no faith in organized charity and did not believe that any form of
charity helped the actual person who had a real need.
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Finally a plan was evolved whereby Mr. Woodbury set aside
$1,000,000 in a bank in New York for the special purpose of helping
others. He informed various business and charitable organizations
that if they contacted any person who had a legitimate plan and was
anxious to go into business for him or herself, to send that person to
see him. Mr. Woodbury opened a special office in a private residence
in a secluded part of New York City, and there, each morning, we
interviewed applicants for help. Briefly outlined, his plan was to find
such persons who were competent in some definite line of business
or trade, who had many years of experience in that particular line,
and who were anxious to discontinue being employees and go into
business for themselves. If such persons were well qualified in a moral
and ethical way that is, not addicted to drinking, gambling, or other
extravagant indulgences and were healthy and responsible enough
to start up their own business and build up a good clientele, he would
loan them anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000, and in some cases even
more. The money was loaned to such individuals without security, and
with no other pledge or promise than their personal word, and with
no agreement as to the return of the money except that it should be
returned from the legitimate profits of their businesses, and in such
payments as they found were possible, convenient, and not injurious
to the progress of their business, and without any interest of any kind.
Within a year practically the whole of the $1,000,000 had been
loaned in this manner, and during the following year it was a pleasure
to see that ninety-eight percent of those who had secured the money
were making various returns in accordance with the profits of their
businesses, and in no wise attempting to defraud Mr. Woodbury.
After four years of operation of the plan, Mr. Woodbury found that
quite a few had returned not only the original amounts that they had
borrowed, but had donated to the fund liberal amounts to help others,
and that on the basis on which it was working, his original $1,000,000
would be returned with a very much larger increase than if he had
loaned it at six percent.
In fact, a report sent by Mr. Woodbury to me in 1924 showed that
in ten years previous, his $1,000,000 had been returned and a large
additional fund accumulated. He had proved his original contention
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that human nature could be trusted and that the average person, if
placed upon his or her word of honor, would not take advantage of any
plan that was truly conceived to be noncommercial and one hundred
percent altruistic. Only a little over two percent of the persons he
had tried to help had taken advantage of the situation and had either
absconded or in other ways defrauded him; but he took no means to
punish them or even search for them.
The most important discovery made by Mr. Woodbury in
connection with his humanitarian plan, however, was that soon after
he inaugurated it his other business affairs began to prosper far beyond
his anticipation. Many persons who owed him large sums of money
began to make payments, and in other ways he found that the cosmic
law of compensation was beginning to reward him for his efforts in
behalf of others. He finally organized an institution of helpfulness for
people in business, and up to the very last hour that it existed before
being completely abandoned in order to carry on other activities, it was
one of the outstanding demonstrations of cosmic law. It is unfortunate
that Mr. Woodbury is no longer around to carry on these forms of
help, but there are undoubtedly others in this country, and elsewhere,
who carry on the work originally begun by Mr. Woodbury.
Another illustration is that of the work of Mr. Dodge, the New
York financier and philanthropist, with whom I was associated as
adviser and consultant for several years. Mr. Dodge was not only well
known throughout the nation as a promoter of major corporations
and big business, but he was one of the most generous workers I ever
met in behalf of unfortunate people in New York City. From one
end of the City to another Mr. Dodge was known in the principal
hotels, restaurants, clothing stores, and real estate offices. When an
unfortunate person appeared at a restaurant or a hotel and asked for a
room or a meal, and had a note written on the back of a card signed by
Mr. Dodge, he or she was given every possible help. And a note written
by Mr. Dodge provided to many individuals a receipt for a months rent
for their apartment or home, or some necessary furniture, groceries,
or clothing.
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It was a pleasure to accompany Mr. Dodge to these merchants, and
listen to their reports, and note the pleasure Mr. Dodge received in
handing out his personal checks to pay for the things others needed
and had received. What he had learned and what I knew of his business
affairs proved the soundness of his activities. There never was one
of his big business propositions that did not pay and prove to be an
eminent success.
Whether on Wall Street or in the financial corridors of Manhattan,
the plans proposed by Mr. Dodge always came to fruition, and he
seemed to have what others called luck. And every person who had
money for investment sought an opportunity to have an interest in any
proposition that Mr. Dodge sanctioned or sponsored. He knew that
he had cosmic cooperation and support, because he believed himself
to be one of the many silent and secret workers in behalf of the
Cosmic to help others. He used to take pleasure in telling others, quite
confidentially, that he was incorporated, and that his firm consisted of
the Cosmic Hosts and himself. With such a partnership, no one could
fail in business.
Take the case of Sam Small, the president of the board of directors
of one of the large cereal companies of America. Mr. Small was at one
time an abandoned waif and had to fight his way through life, but he
never forgot, in his days of wealth and prosperity, the suffering of the
orphans of the street. It was indeed a pleasure for anyone to accompany
him in his automobile several nights before Christmas each year, in
whatever city he happened to be, and watch him go into the byways
of congested districts among the poor. He would take boys and girls
to clothing stores where he would buy them the shoes, stockings, and
overcoats that they needed, and then send them home with baskets of
groceries or toys. Hundreds of children in many cities were helped in
this manner each Christmas. He acted without ostentation and with no
other motive than the sole pleasure he derived from helping others and
the idea that some divine law had raised him from poverty as a waif to
great wealth for the purpose of enabling him to carry out the cosmic
principles.
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He could not conceive of the possibility of his wealth having come
to him for his own selfish use or the exclusive use of his immediate
family, and he held fast to the true principle of being a steward of
divine funds. And yet as quickly as Mr. Small expended his funds in
this manner, his income was increased and increased until he finally
became the head of many large companies.
Mr. Small and many others would frankly tell you that at times,
when they first felt the urge to give to others and to help others, they
often had to seriously consider whether the few dollars they possessed
should be rashly or spontaneously divided and given away, or held
in reserve for a possible rainy day. Many times the money in hand
represented just a safe margin for emergencies in their business affairs,
and in some cases the plan for helpfulness called for the expenditure
of every available dollar and the jeopardizing of personal interests at
the time. Yet there was always the conviction, based upon previous
experience, that if even the last penny is given away freely and without
reluctance, and with that spontaneity of good will that the Cosmic
always uses, there would come a proper reward in the form of some
adjustment of financial affairs that would remove any possibility of
disastrous results to the giver.
And so my plea to you must be, that regardless of your station in
life, or the situation of your business and financial affairs, you must
not permit your own needs, and especially your contemplated needs,
to interfere with the liberality of your charity or the broadness of your
helpfulness. It is a positive fact that as you act spontaneously and freely,
and without hesitation or long deliberation, in the giving to someone
else of that which you can give but which you could use yourself, so
you will find the Cosmic spontaneously and liberally coming to your
aid at the proper time, and with the same lack of hesitancy which you
manifested.
It is safe to say that the average person of health and business
capabilities who finds herself or himself out of employment, out of
funds, and out of contact with any who can help or tide over the
serious situation, is a person who has failed in the past to give liberally
and spontaneously when the cosmic urge came from within. Too
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many people appeal to the Cosmic or to the laws of psychology and
mysticism for aid in their predicaments, yet they cannot show that at
any time in the past have they cooperated with the Cosmic in liberally
helping others. Merely to give advice to others who seek it, or simply
to give a meal to one who begs at the door, or to drop a few coins
in the Salvation Army pot, or to donate some old clothing to the
orphanage is not carrying out the greater work of the Cosmic. Those
who suddenly feel that there is something they can do for someone,
something they can give, even though it hurts in a financial or material
way, or something that they can do even though it is inconvenient,
unpleasant, tiresome, and costlyand without hesitation, without
reluctance, wholeheartedly submit to the urge are those who are
truly cooperating with the Cosmic. They will find eventually, not in the
days of the last judgment in the world beyond, but in the days here and
now, that at every crisis and in every need the Cosmic comes to their
aid abundantly.
It behooves everyone, therefore, who has read through this book
with the hope of finding in it some help in solving personal problems,
to ask themselves this question: What have I done for others? And
perhaps this additional question: What have I contributed to the
cosmic supply that I may now appeal to the Cosmic and withdraw
from the positive supply?
If you can find no positive affirmative answer to your questions,
and you believe, even half reluctantly, that you have been deficient in
your cooperation with the Cosmic in this regard, it will be well for you
to consider immediately how you may proceed at once to help some
others while you are seeking help for yourself. Before you expect any
return through cosmic or mystic laws, be sure that you have done your
utmost to help someone else, not only because of the reward that
will come to you, but because it is your duty, as it is the duty of every
human being, to be an earthly instrument in carrying out the cosmic
scheme of things. And as long as you are out of attunement with
the cosmic plans, and not a part of the army of cosmic workers, you
cannot expect the cosmic laws to help you and be unmindful of your
neglect.
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Perhaps your very situation today, in whole or in part, and perhaps
the problems which you now face, and from which you have sought
relief or now seek relief, is a result of your failure to cooperate with
the law of compensation in the past, and therefore your present
predicament is a part of your Karma. If this is soand no one else
but you can know that it is then certain that you must first adjust
your relationship with cosmic law, and then with the Cosmic Hosts,
and finally with your fellow beings.
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Chapter 11
ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS
There is no surer way of attracting business than by making new
and long-time customers feel that from the moment they cross the
threshold of your doorway they are in a unique place and are going
to receive a higher quality of attention and service than they have ever
received before.
NE OF THE most common complaints voiced in letters

to our organization is that keen competition or rivalry is
responsible for the troubles and poor progress in the line
of business owned or operated by the letter writers. In other words,
the writers of such letters say: I was getting along all right with my
business, which was slowly building up and becoming profitable, but
others near me have entered into the same line of business and the
customers are now divided between several competitors and none
of us are succeeding as well as we should. Other letters say: A
competitor has entered my field of business and is near me, drawing
so heavily upon my customer base that my business is about to fail. I
am honest, give proper returns for the money, and have tried to build
my business on a fair-and-square basis; yet I now face failure because
of this competition.
It is absolutely true that competition is the spice of commerce and
that intense competition should result in increased business for the
dedicated entrepreneur. There is hardly any business today that does
not have competition, and if it has no competition, it soon will have;
and everyone who is in business, whether for oneself or for others,
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should realize that competition is no explanation for failure, but should
be a real incentive for success.
I recall a minister who many years ago came to me and complained
that attendance at his Sunday and Wednesday evening services was
being ruined by lack of attendance because a movie theatre across
the street was attracting everyone in the town and drawing from his
congregations. I asked him if the theatre was hurting his Monday
night, Tuesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night
congregations, and he told me that there were no services on those
nights, for his church was closed on all those evenings. I asked him to
describe the front of his church so that I might get a picture of what
the church looked like.
He described his church in detail and I was able to visualize one
of those nice gray stone structures often seen in the heart of some
middle-sized town, with ivy growing over the doorway and around the
windows, an old belfry with rusty, dusty bells, a little lawn in front of
the church, badly kept, and huge, wooden doors in the doorway, closed
and securely locked. The structure I saw in my mind could have been a
suitable place for a prison, an insane asylum, a sanitarium, or the winter
home of a wealthy elderly eccentric. I asked him if he had any signs or
emblems on the front of the church and he said there was a cross on
the top of the belfry that was once gilded but now quite rusted, and
two signs on the front of the building, one on either side of the door.
When I asked what was printed on the signs, he answered:
The sign on the left side of the door is small, with a black
background and gold lettering which says that the Reverend John
Blank, D.D., is pastor, and that services are held Sundays at eleven
oclock, three oclock, and seven thirty, and on Wednesday nights at
seven-thirty, and that all are welcome. The sign on the right-hand side
of the door is black, with gold lettering, and states that John Sexton is
the undertaker and sexton.
Then I asked the minister: What kind of a building is the movie
theatre in? He explained to me that the movie theatre had a white
and green tiled archway with a large, well-decorated lobby, an attractive
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ticket booth, many lights and attractive signs, and was in full operation
every night of the week. Then I asked him to step with me mentally
into the middle of the street on any evening at about seven thirty and
consider the mental attitude of a person who had an evening to spare
and was trying to decide where to go.
On the one side of the street was the church, and on the other
side the movie theatre. The one structure is dark, gruesome-looking,
uninviting. No strains of music come from within, no face appears
at the door to greet you, and the only signs that you can read politely
announce that the place is open on only a few occasions during the
week, and that two persons are connected with it one who is ready
to tell you how sinful you are and the other will bury you when you die.
On the other side of the street there is warmth, color, attractiveness,
fun, interesting music, and a smiling face at a booth inviting you to
come in. The signs in front of this place also tell you that a number
of characters will appear before you to speak to you or portray stories
and lessons, and that these stories and lessons deal with the realities
of life, the actual occurrences, the things of here and now, and bespeak
generally about the land of the living and a life of happiness and joy.
Of course the cleric immediately saw the point of my discussion with
him. Instead of complaining and attempting to discover all the wrong
things he could find about the movie theatres and the movie industry
in general, he began to analyze his own situation and tried to find
what was wrong with him and his church. People are unquestionably
religiously inclined, and the average person would not think of having
spirituality left out of community life. But the average and filled with
hope and salvation that is a saving grace from all the trials, troubles,
sorrows, and tribulations of this life. The church, as conducted by this
particular minister was an institution of sadness and despondency. His
own record showed that he was catering more to elderly people than to
younger people, and that in fact he could not attract any young people
to the evening services.
I found a year later, after this minister had began keeping the church
open seven nights a week and arranged for some interesting and
instructive programs each night of the week, that he was operating
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a keen form of competition to the theatre, for the folks in the town
found that they could find more uplifting and enjoyable entertainment
and derive more real benefit from some of the weekday church services
than they received at the movie theatre, and for a lower price! Since it
was not a matter of price competition but of audience, the minister had the
upper hand all the man and woman seek a religion that is joyous and
inspiring time, but did not know it.
Speaking of theatres, I remember an early experience with a
neighborhood movie theatre in the residential section of Manhattan
in New York City. Several business partners who had never been
in the movie theatre business, but who had some fresh ideas about
how a good theatre could attract an affluent clientele, pooled their
resources and turned a small store building into a very attractive movie
theatre. The new theatre faced stiff competition from nearby theatres,
and so it had to be attractive and appealing, and this had to done on
a limited budget. The theatre seated only 300 persons, and even by
filling the theatre nightly at the going rate charged by neighborhood
theatres, that amount of money would not go far in presenting firstrun movies. Therefore, elaborate programs and costly features had to
be eliminated, and the whole approach had to be presented in a unique
manner in order to appeal to the target audience that the business
partners were seeking. After everything was done to make the entrance
and the interior of the theatre attractive in an especially tasteful and
artistic way, with beautiful murals painted on the walls and in the lobby,
and generously comfortable seating installed in the theatre itself, the
movie house was ready for its opening.
In order to successfully compete with the large downtown theatres,
which attracted thousands of customers nightly and were not more
than a few minutes ride from this neighborhood, the business partners
consulted with me in regard to a plan for attracting customers to
their new theatre. We began by sending letters to city officials, school
board members, business people, and residents in the neighborhood
announcing the opening of the theatre and stating that the theatre
would show only the best quality films for patrons of discerning taste.
The films to be shown would appeal not just to adults, nor to teenagers,
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but to families. Then an engraved invitation was mailed to every family
within a mile of the theatre, announcing the opening of the Venetian
Theatre, with its Italian decorations and European ambiance and
courtesy. We assured neighborhood patrons that in this theatre they
would find better movies, more comfortable seats, a more wholesome
environment and intimate atmosphere, and more courtesy than they
had ever found in any theatre before. They were invited to come to the
opening night free by using the ticket that was enclosed.
The theatre was packed on its first night, and in the several years
that it continued to be in business, there was always a full house for
each performance. When patrons came to the theatre, they were
ushered politely and courteously to their seats. Every convenience was
provided, even to the extent of providing wider and more comfortable
seats, and spacing the seats a little farther apart than in other theatres.
For the first time in the history of New York theatre, fresh drinking
water was available for free during the movies. Following the movie, as
customers left, they were handed a little card thanking them for their
patronage and inviting them to come again and make this theatre their
home for evening entertainment. In fact, the Venetian Theatre set a
new standard of excellence for neighborhood theatres and art houses,
and as a result of these extra steps taken by the business partners, their
business thrived.
Here the art of attracting customers was brought to a high degree,
and it proved to be the best way in which to build business in the
face of competition. Some nearby theatres that lost customers to the
Venetian Theatre could have saved their businesses by immediately
adopting the same policy utilized by the new theatre. They claimed that
the Venetian Theatre had made a tremendous investment in interior
decoration, smart uniforms for the ushers, and other incidentals they
claimed they could not afford. The truth of the matter was that the
largest investment made by the Venetian Theatre was an investment
in politeness and unique business methods that did not cost anything except
some thought and considerable sincerity. Combine these attributes with
a quality product i.e., distinctive movies for a discerning audience
and you have a successful business model!
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And this business model can be applied to any business where you
are providing a service to people. I recall a clothing store many years
ago that opened in the face of keen competition and walked away with
all of the neighborhood business in a few months by adding some
unique features. For instance, this new store pioneered the unique idea
(unique at that time) of allowing customers to actually try on neckties
before purchasing them. This store did not sell neckties by hanging
them on racks or by displaying them in a glass case. The store had
a little booth conveniently situated with a bright light, a chair, and a
mirror, where a prospective customer could sit down and try on one
or a dozen neckties and see how they actually looked with the shirt or
jacket the customer might be wearing. After all, people hold dresses,
shirts, or jackets up to their faces to see how the color agrees with their
complexion or hair color, so why not neckties? Very few men have
any idea how a necktie will look when it is off the rack and close to
their chin, and the store owner believed that if you tried on shoes and
suits to make sure they fit and look nice, you might also want to try on
neckties. The merchant was absolutely correct! The little loss through
wrinkled neckties was more than offset by the tremendous business
the store owner achieved.
Business people who say they are giving full measure for every dollar
received, and, therefore, are entitled to customers and patronage, are
fooling themselves. It is only natural for customers to expect full value
plus for every dollar they spend, and the plus part of the return does not
have to be in material form. There was a time when thirteen doughnuts
constituted a dozena bakers dozen in the bakery shop, and the
extra doughnut was supposed to be a bid for patronage. However, I
would argue that any bakery could have got away with eleven doughnuts
for a dozen if it had handed out a big handful of politeness, courtesy, and a
little touch of unique service. I saw this proved in a bakery that opened
its doors in the face of stiff competition. It did not give the extra
doughnut in each dozen. However, this shop provided its doughnuts in
a unique bag that didnt get greasy and protected the customers hands
and clothes from any grease or frosting. Moreover, this particular
bakery sold more warm scones in the afternoon than any other shop
because it didnt wait for customers to come to the shop, but initially,
upon opening for business, the new bakery sent around complimentary
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freshly baked scones to all the neighboring homes and offices. Who
could resist warm scones at four oclock in the afternoon? The bakery
was an immediate success!
Again, this business model, consisting of politeness, genuine courtesy, and
unique service, can be applied to any business where you are providing a
service to customers. And think about it: what business doesnt provide
service to customers? So you see, these business principles dont just
apply to retail stores, but can be successfully put to work by business
people providing all kinds of professional services, from banking and
financial services to home repairing and these important principles to
work in your professional and personal life.
Many lines of business are failing today, or falling into the hands
of incompetent, irresponsible persons because those with money to
invest believe that some of these lines of business are not worthy of
their investment or attention. This is nonsense. Any legitimate business
that is providing a necessary service to customers is deserving of our
investment and attention. And the company or business that provides
the best in service will get the customers patronage.
For example, we all know that a reliable automobile mechanic is a
good person to know. However, many years ago the publics view of
auto repair shops which provide a very necessary servicewas that
they were among the lowest, meanest, and dirtiest places where one
could work. Anyone driving an automobile needed this vital service;
however, many believed that auto garages were dirty places staffed by
ill-mannered mechanics, dishonest managers, and persons incapable
of conducting any other kind of business. Thus, the average garage
or automobile repair shop was seen as an uninviting and irresponsible
institution. For this reason, patrons did not want to pay well, were
usually suspicious about the charges asked, and took with a grain of
salt any statements landscape services, and so on. Think about how you
can put regarding the efficiency of the work performed.
However, years ago some garages and auto repair shops set out
to change this attitude on the part of the public. These pioneers
transformed their garages into clean, well lighted places, staffed by
professional mechanics who not only completely understood the
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inner workings of an automobile, but were trained to be polite and
courteous, informative and honest with their customers. After all, there
is no reason in the world why a garage or auto repair business, or any
other business for that matter, cannot be established and maintained
by following the highly successful principles we have discussed in this
book. If this isnt being done, it is due to the inability of those in a
particular field of business to think along unique lines and to create a
new aspect and a new character for the business they are in.
There is no surer way of attracting business than by making new
and long-time customers feel that from the moment they cross the
threshold of your doorway they are in a unique place and are going to
receive a higher quality of attention and service than they have ever
received before. When customers feel that some distinct service and
some special courtesy that they have not asked for and are not expected
to pay for is being given to them, they will make a mental note of the
place and decide that if everything turns out well, they will come again.
And when customers can walk out of your place of business saying
to themselves that regardless of what they paid or what they received,
they also received something extra that they did not pay for, and that they
did not expect, and that they did not find anywhere else, then you will
have customers who will stay with you as long as you can keep them
thinking that way.
There is a big difference between politeness and sycophancy, and
between courtesy and servility. No customer wants to be flattered and
fooled with a lot of nonsense and disingenuous information about
a product. They wont be fooled for a minute; they will see right
through you. On the other hand, there is a way to extend courtesy
and demonstrate politeness that will leave its impression long after the
demonstrator of these things has forgotten it.
No matter what business you may be in, or for whom you may
be working, you will better the interests of the firm, and incidentally
yourself, if you try to give every customer, remember again that the
more need not refer to the material things being sold. A passenger
rail service company is not in business just to sell tickets. It is a service
company, and unless service is given along with the ticket, and carried
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out by providing a high-quality experience, the company is not giving its
customers what it is in business to provide. The ticket is simply the symbol
of what is to follow: namely, a fast and convenient and enjoyable
rail journey across the country. After all, the customer does not buy a rail
or airline ticket just to have a nice, colored ticket envelope in his or her
pocket. The customer is paying for what the ticket represents, and it is
through the quality of that service that the customer judges the rail or
airline companys efficiency.
The service that goes along with selling a suit of clothes and
continues long after the customer has been wearing the clothing will
bring that person back into the store again, long after the high quality of
the merchandise for which the customer paid a high price may no longer
have such a strong impact upon the person. When you sell customers a
cup of coffee, you cannot argue with them that you are giving them their
moneys worth of coffee beans and water. It is the high every patron, every
client, more than he or she pays for, and quality of the coffee beans, the
excellence of the roast, the purity of the water, the uniqueness of the
service, the comfort and ambiance in which the coffee is enjoyed, that
makes a hit with the eager customer.
Therefore, in attracting customers, remember that you must use
subtle and psychological principles and bring them into such outward
manifestation that the person to be influenced keenly realizes these
principles and makes a mental note of them. The process is entirely
up to you and not up to the customer. If your competitors are taking
your business away from you or from the employer who employs you,
it is up to the employer and you to win the customers back, provided
the merchandise is good and the business is an honest one. If your
competitors are beating you in the game of giving plus in every deal, you
have got to go them one better and add plus to plus. It is not a matter
of the survival of the fittest, but a survival of the best provider of service;
and again I say, the things that count most with the customer, client, or
patron in any line of business are the things he or she did not pay for, did
not expect, and which do not have any material price attached to them.
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Chapter 12
THE SKELETON IN THE

CLOSET
I have found it absolutely futile and a waste of time to attempt
. . . to help a person who is sick or in business trouble if that
person continues to think, believe, and act on the false, erroneous, or
inharmonious ideas which are the real causes of his or her trouble.
E MAY DODGE the issue as we please and try to convince

ourselves that the idea is only theoretical and not a scientific
fact, but the truth remains, nevertheless all our problems
of health and personal affairs have a cause within ourselves.
An eminent medical authority speaking before a large congregation
of physicians and surgeons said that his experience of a quarter of
a century as a physician, surgeon, author, and professor in a medical
school had convinced him that after the physician had completed his
or her diagnosis of the symptoms and had made a careful examination
into the pathological and histological causes of the ill-health of
a person, there was still a very large and more important field for
investigation. The field was the inner self of the patient. He claimed
that until the physician knew as much about the personal, private
thinking and acting of the patient in his or her dealings with all human
affairs, the physician could not know the real cause of a mental or
physical disturbance.
Psychologists and psychiatrists long ago learned to seek beyond the
outer self for the cause of many peculiar mental and physical traits.
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The real mystic knows that what a person thinks, believes, talks about,
and does in her or his daily affairs has as much effect upon a persons
health and personal problems as have contaminated foods, disease
germs, unhygienic environments, accidents to the body, and stock
market fluctuations.
After twenty-five years of watching the systematic and carefully
recorded activities of the Council of Solace of the Rosicrucian Order
in America, I have become thoroughly convinced of the universal
truth and principle revealed in my personal experiences with persons
whom I have helped with many problems. To sum this up, I have
found it absolutely futile and a waste of time to attempt metaphysically
or psychically, as well as medicinally or legally, to help a person who is
sick or in business trouble if that person continues to think, believe,
and act on the false, erroneous, or inharmonious ideas which are the
real causes of his or her trouble.
Let me cite one case that will probably reveal this idea to you clearly
and quickly. An individual came to me who had been suffering from
boils and carbuncles for a little over two years. When he came to my
office on the recommendation of an eminent physician, I was horrified
at the painful and obnoxious appearance of his countenance through
the presence of two large boils on either cheek. The back of his neck
and even part of the scalp where the hair had been shaved was scarred
from previous lance incisions for the removal of boils and carbuncles,
and he told me he had them on various parts of his body.
His doctor verified the fact that he and other physicians had used
everything known to medical science to clarify and purify the patients
blood, and there was no question about the fact that the impurities
which accumulated in each carbuncle or boil came from impurities
in his blood. His blood seemed to be continuously poisoned with
a form of toxin that insisted on breaking out in a horrible manner.
Medical science had done its utmost to cleanse his blood and body in
a chemical, physiological sense. Even his food for the past six months
had been carefully regulated, cleansed, and all water boiled. He was not
engaged in any business that would bring him in contact with poisons
of any kind. The boils were increasing in number and size. The history
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of his case clearly showed that each month brought more and larger
amounts of poison and pus into manifestation.
I noticed that in addition to the mans suffering from pain, he was
very curt, brusque, and inclined to be impatient. I tried to ignore this
attitude that was caused by his complete skepticism and insistent doubt
that any psychologist, counselor, minister, or spiritually minded person
could do anything for him. However, his attitude revealed the fact
that he had no faith in any spiritual principles relating to the power
or advantage of mental culture and right thinking. I talked with the
man on various subjects, always ignoring his impatience with what he
probably considered my foolish belief in spiritual things, and then sent
him on his way while I seriously considered the psychic impression I
received from him.
With some investigation, I discovered that the man was not only a
critic of spirituality and refused even to have a Bible in his home, but
more importantly, he was a typical bully in his home, in his social
circles, and in the business place where he worked. Along with a few
superb mental attributes, he also, however, displayed a most horrible
temper, and his associates where he worked said it was common for
him to have an outburst of temper at least once a day. During these
fits, which were often provoked by the mere dropping of a tool or
instrument, or the finding of something misplaced by him, he would
slam things from the bench where he worked, kick the boxes and barrels
or machinery near him even to such an extent that he often harmed his
own person. He had been known to smash his hand through the plate
glass of a window because it refused to close for him, and thereby cut
his hand badly. Another time, he kicked at a piece of iron that was in
his way and injured his toe. He had often pulled his hair so ferociously
that he had caused his scalp to bleed.
The man became a beast or a brute without any control of himself
when suddenly annoyed over some simple little thing. At home, his
family was afraid to cross him in any remark or to contradict him in
any misstatement. He had been known to upset the entire diningroom table, causing all the dishes and food to be thrown onto the
floor, merely because of his displeasure with some dish of food. In
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his immediate neighborhood, he was called the agitator and was
annoying and unpleasant to everyone. He was firmly convinced that
all politicians were crooked, that the government was being run for
the advantage of the rich and the suffering of the poor. He was also
convinced that the churches were built for no other purpose than to
ring their bells on Sunday morning when he wanted to sleep, and the
government issued money only to wear holes in his pocket.
Nothing in the world was quite right, not even himself, for he
admitted that he could not live as properly and happily as he should
because nothing afforded him the opportunity and that he would
be better off dead than alive. If ever there was a piece of human
machinery manufacturing virulent poison for self-consumption, it was
this specimen of humanity. Between sunrise and sunset of each day,
he created more actual poison in his bloodstream than would be found
in an army of soldiers fighting in battle with all of their hatred or
supposed hatred toward the enemy.
When all of this was explained to his physician, he agreed that this
patients mental attitude might be responsible for the boils. Naturally,
he was reluctant to concede that he had overlooked this condition
in his diagnosis. However, knowing the possible cause did not tell us
how we were going to correct it. It was unthinkable that we could
accomplish anything by telling the man about his faults and asking
him to change them. Even our suggestion of such a thing to him
would have resulted in another outburst of temper and the creation
of another ounce of poison. Most certainly, his spouse or children
would not dare to venture such a suggestion. We finally secured the
cooperation of his employer in the interests of medical research. The
man was transferred to an experimental research station in the country
operated by the concern he was working for. The concern was making
a new model for home lighting and power equipment. The man was
sent to a farm in Pennsylvania, eighteen miles from the nearest small
city.
For four months he had to live among peaceful, quiet, retiring
farmers, and do nothing but watch the operation and general results
of a small light and power plant temporarily installed in an empty
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barn. There was nobody he could quarrel with because all had been
warned in advance not to get into any arguments with him, but to look
upon him as a researcher who should be left alone, undisturbed with
his thoughts. There was little opportunity for impolite or even polite
criticism of food or conditions around him. After two months, his
boils began to lessen and his blood cleared up considerably, for the
physician who had been treating him for a number of months paid
him a visit in Pennsylvania. In six months the patient returned to New
York in a clean and healthy condition.
To prove that it was neither the climate nor the food, nor the water
that affected his blood, he was given charge of a small experimental
laboratory in the Bronx where the new model of the power equipment
was being secretly perfected. He had only one young person as an
assistant, and it was arranged that the patient should sleep at the
plant as a caretaker at night with an extra fee for this special service.
Therefore, he ate all of his meals at various restaurants and could pick
the menus to suit himself. He quarreled little with the young assistant
and his outbursts of temper were seldom. His blood remained in a
fairly good condition and no boils appeared for another six months.
Then the patient was brought back to his old environment again,
and although he had been partly cured of his habit of daily outbursts
of temper, he continued to exhibit frequent outbursts because
of arguments with employees and arguments at home and in the
neighborhood. In six months he again experienced a few more boils,
and those of us who were interested in the experiment were now
convinced that mentally and physically, he himself was causing the
toxicity in his system.
This is an extreme case, of course, but while this man may have
created an ounce of poison in his system every day, there are millions
of men and women who are creating a grain of poison of some kind in
their systems every week. As can be imagined, it does not take much of
this mental and spiritual, or psychic, poison to accumulate and become
responsible for many mental and physical ills as well as business
difficulties and personal problems. I have known of persons whose
health continued to be below par solely because they continuously held
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in the secret parts of their natures a lifelong grudge against another
person, the mention of whose name would always cause an upwelling
of the inner spirit in the form of hatred and evil thoughts, even though
not a word of this was expressed. I have known of those who suffered
from headaches, depressed emotions, and slight forms of dizziness,
solely because of an attitude of envy, dislike, distrust, jealousy, or
some other unkind thought or feeling toward some person, group of
persons, or conditions.
I have found the same to be true in business or with personal problems.
Business owners, administrators, salespeople, clerks, employers,
employees, or anyone else going about their daily affairs with an
inharmonious although secretly concealed attitude toward some
person, group of persons, business associates, or business conditions,
are bound to have trouble and experience a definite reflection of their
mental attitude on their business affairs. Their business activity will
decrease; they will find competitors succeeding while they fail; or
they will see excellent opportunities passing them by and customers,
funding, and cooperation ignoring them.
Usually it is very difficult for persons thus suffering to analyze just
what it is they are thinking or believing, or inwardly expressing, that
is the real cause of their troubles. The average person seems to think
that a personal enmity of a passive, private nature toward some other
individual is an inconsequential thing as long as he or she does not go
about expressing it or allowing it to come into outer manifestation.
That is a mistake. The poison is in the system just the same, whether
expressed by violent outbursts of temper, conveyed in an occasional
unkind word or remark, or privately held within ones mind.
There is hardly a patient that our Council of Solace contacts
psychically or mentally who does not register some long-established
prejudice, ill feeling, erroneous thought, or unkind sentiment lurking
in the system like a germ sapping the vitality of health and causing
an inharmonious relationship with cosmic laws and principles. Such
persons can be neither healthy, happy, nor prosperous in any of
the affairs of life until they are purged of this subtle, secret, private
influence within their beings. After all, there is no one better able to
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analyze these things and discover the germ within the psychic system
than the patient himself or herself, if the patient would simply be
honest and truthful, fair, and just in self-examination.
Therefore, whatever may be the problem confronting you in life,
whether it be ill-health, a mild mental condition that is annoying, a lack
of ability or power to attract success and happiness, or a continuous
failure of your plans or desires, look within yourself for some subtle,
mental cause, not necessarily related in any way to your health or
your personal problems, but most surely related to the harmonious
relationship that should exist between you and all living beings and the
universe generally.
Seek for the skeleton in your closet. This is far more important
than any skeletons in the old family closet that you feel you may have
inherited, or any skeletons of germs and bugs that may be in your food
or drink, or in the air you breathe. Get that skeleton out of your closet,
dust it off, and have a good look at it, and see what a tricky, evil creature
it really is, and how unworthy it is to be a part of yourself and hide
within the sacred precincts of your temple. Then, after having paid
homage to its subtle powers, inter it in the earth of oblivion and erect
a tombstone over it with the words, Here lies an untruth. Then ask
the God of your Heart and the Masters of the cosmic realms to keep
you clean and holy and undefiled in your thoughts and in your attitude
toward all beings. By cleansing the inside of the cup, your drinks of life
will not be poisoned. No other cosmic principle, metaphysical law, or
material help will bring you one iota of benefit until you are right with
the Cosmic and attuned to the harmony of the universe and love your
neighbor and all creatures as you love yourself.
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Chapter 13
THE ROUND TABLE

To be highly successful in life, we must cease believing or feeling that
we are individuals, independent of all other persons or beings in the
universe.
T WOULD APPEAR from a careful survey of the success

attained by a large majority of Rosicrucians who have used the
unique principles to improve their health and enlarge their social
and financial standings, that these persons have freely employed such
methods, principles, processes, and formulas as might be used by every
person without limiting themselves to the exclusion of any principle or
idea that was sound and sensible.
In other words, it is found in the review of the lives of most highly
successful Rosicrucians that no element of fanaticism and no degree
of bigotry or narrowness has entered into their application of Natures
laws and power. Just because one finds in the Rosicrucian teachings
some principles that are unique and efficient and worthy of continuous
application, there is no reason to reject from ones mode of living and
from ones scheme for advancement any principle or idea that is good,
and yet not essentially Rosicrucian. In this we see the broadness of
the Rosicrucian philosophy, and it illustrates the working out of the
thought constantly presented to Rosicrucians; namely, that one must
be, above all else, rational, reasonable, and broadminded.
Rosicrucians come to know very early in their experiments with the
teachings that the Rosicrucian doctrines are not intended to be a limited
creed or an exclusive outline of the only laws and principles of value
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to us in our personal evolution. As inclusive and ever evolving as the
teachings are, the fact remains that each of us is constantly discovering
or evolving methods and processes for our own advancement which
may not be found in the Rosicrucian teachings or in the teachings of
any other school or system. Some schools or movements insist that
in order that success with their work may be attained, the student or
the practitioner must exclude everything that is not a part of their
particular system.
We find physicians of some schools of medicine who are so oldfashioned in their beliefs and comprehension of the newer laws that
they insist that patients must not accept or receive any other form of
help for their physical disabilities than that being prescribed by the
physician in accordance with the indications of the physicians system.
On the other hand, we find more open-minded physicians freely
admitting that in addition to the medicine, surgery, or adjustments
prescribed by them, patients may also benefit from metaphysical,
mental, or psychological treatments. Such physicians are not only
helping their patients to attain a normalized condition in a more rapid
manner, but they are establishing faith and confidence in the minds of
their patients by showing a tolerant attitude and an understanding of
the possibilities of various laws to bring about certain conditions.
Rosicrucians freely proclaim and demonstrate that the human mind
is capable of many marvelous controls over the physical body, and
that through psychological or psychic and mental principles we may
alleviate pain and suffering and produce many cures. On the other hand,
Rosicrucianism plainly and distinctly indicates that where medicine or
herb extracts, surgery or mechanical adjustments, massage or electricity,
tooth extraction, vision correction, or any other improvement in the
physical, chemical, anatomical, or functional condition of the body is
indicated, these things should be attended to immediately and at the
hands of a competent person, thoroughly trained in a university or
school devoted to that work and licensed to practice their particular
art or science. To believe that psychological principles will take the
place of these other processes or methods is simply to shut the door
to efficient aid and depend upon faith or the operation of natural law
116

to effect a gradual change or permit a temporary condition to become
a chronic one and thereby more serious than it was originally.
The same thing may be said of business ills, social ills, and the general
ills of humanity. Miracles are performed by the mind and also by the
hand, and many of the great miracles of the past that are recorded in
sacred literature as having been made manifest through prayer or the
application of a divine principle are being duplicated today by science
through a more direct application of natural laws. The manifest miracle
is the same in both cases, and where science or the arts and laws of the
natural world will competently and efficiently adjust matters for us, we
are extremely foolish to ignore these other methods and depend solely
upon faith or our finite understanding of infinite principles.
To be highly successful in life, we must cease believing or feeling
that we are individuals, independent of all other persons or beings in
the universe. It is only through a developed sense of oneness with God
and oneness with humanity that we attune ourselves harmoniously
with conditions that surround us, and which will carry us onward to
success, happiness, and health, if we master the obstacles that seem
to rise before us. Most of the obstacles in life that men and women
look upon as mountainous barriers to the goals of life are fictitious
things and often figments of the imagination or phantasms of the fear
element that still resides in our minds as an inheritance from earlier
stages of existence.
One older mystic said that the things we feared the most in life were
the things that never happened; and I know from personal contact
with thousands of men and women, who write to the Rosicrucian
Council of Solace for aid and help in overcoming the obstacles they
believe stand before them, that the statement of this experienced
mystic is true. There is a trite saying that one should never cross a
bridge until one comes to it, and I have found that the average person
who hesitates in venturing along the path to success is not only trying
to cross a bridge that is far in the distance, but is making of that bridge
a greater structure and a greater test of endurance than is warranted by
the actual facts. Indeed, many such persons are not even sure that there
is a bridge to be crossed, but on the basis that no long road continues
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in any direction without crossing over some bridges, they anticipate the
existence of the obstacles or challenges in their lives and proceed to
worry about the crossing.
After all, the road to success is like unto the road to happiness,
prosperity, health, or pleasure. It is not likely to be entirely level, nor
always straight, not always free from showers, storms, muddy spots, or
even rocky beds. But these little difficulties or inconveniences are part
of the game of life, and the one who is deterred or discouraged by
these conditions when she or he approaches them is the one who fails
to make the goal. But as I have intimated, there are many who permit
themselves to be deterred on the path while it is still level, smooth,
straight, and convenient, because of an anticipation of some incline,
some curve, or some unpleasant condition.
We have been given more faculties and more marvelous abilities to
direct and control our lives than any of the other creatures of this earth.
We possess the ability to reason and reach conclusions and establish
through our will power a determination to carry out our conclusions
against obstacles and conditions that deter other creatures and hold
them within limits unknown to us. The wildest and strongest lion of
Africa, though demonstrating its prowess in many ways, is easily held
within a limited area by an iron grating or a wall that would mean nothing
to a human who was determined to pass beyond such an interference
to his for her freedom. We know that prisoners, confined within prison
walls, have pitted their ingenuity, strength, and endurance against the
minds of the most skillful engineers and architects in escaping from
such limitations. If ordinary people used the same amount of thought
and determination in attempting to overcome the personal obstacles
that beset their paths to success in life, with all the freedom of thought
and action natural to human beings, their success would be assured!
We have within ourselves a creative power that is a part of the
universal creative force and is a part of the creative energy that God
breathed into space when the first Word was spoken, and order came
out of chaos. Science is constantly proving, and the psychic powers
within us are constantly demonstrating, that there is no limit to the
possibilities of this creative power. We have yet to discover in any field
118

of science, or in the domain of psychology and metaphysics, the limit
of that creative power when it is focused upon some issue or upon
some condition.
The Divinity within each one of us is the only real part of our
existence, and all else is but a servant unto it. The world is the
footstool for this Divine Being, and everything in the universe is
enslaved by the omnipotent intelligence of this highest expression of
creation. This Divine Self knows neither disease nor death, failure nor
discouragement. Its trend of activity is always upward and progressive.
Its outlook is altruistic, optimistic, and joyful. Its intellectual resources
are unlimited. Its capabilities are as wide as the universe itself. It is only
the outer person who should be a servant unto the inner self, for the
outer individual is limited in time of expression, in period of existence,
in capabilities and endurance.
The outer person attempts to judge the world by his or her own
comprehension, and this is but an infinitesimal part of the apprehension
on the part of the Divine Self. It is only when the outer self attunes
with the inner self that limited comprehension widens into universal
comprehension, and the individual becomes cognizant of the greater
world in which he or she lives. In keeping with this widening of
consciousness this round table of greater realization-there comes
an influx of Cosmic Consciousness and Cosmic Attunement, and in
this individuals discover a power and a strength that is beyond any
power or energy of the material world.
As I have said before, people tend to think of themselves as
individualsseparated, isolated, and unique unto themselves. By
contemplating the Divine Self within, individuals broaden their
consciousness to the extent where they sense and finally realize that
the real self is a part of all the real expression pervading the universe,
and that they are not separated from the rest of humanity and are not
separate individuals, but inseparable segments of the universal self or
soul.
In a material sense it is true that in union there is strength, and in our
mundane affairs, association and cooperation bring added fortitude
and security. Certainly, then, in the wider sense, the unification of all
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soul expressions on earth through the inseparable association of each
individuals real self with the real self of all other individuals brings
security, power, and strength, and makes each of us the master of
our fate and destiny. But we cannot master our careers or our lives
by ignoring others around us or by disregarding the surrounding
conditions through which we navigate our course in life. We can no
more direct our course in life, independent of any consideration of
other beings or conditions, than can a comet, swiftly hurtling through
space, arbitrarily select a course for its rapid movement and successfully
avoid the collisions and catastrophes that would be inevitable. The
success of any one person is a joy and a benefit to all others, just as the
failure of any individual is a sorrow to all others. Success begets success,
as happiness begets happiness and joy. Tolerance, sympathy, and love
attune people not only to one another, but to the universal laws and
to the harmony of the Cosmic. Of these, love is unquestionably the
greatest law of the universe.
Much is said in the business world of the code of ethics by which
business should be standardized in operation, and in the social world
we hear of the moral code and the social conventions. To the mystic
who is attuned with the cosmic laws there comes a code of principles
for living that supersedes the human-made code of ethics or the
morals and conventions of society. The mystic learns with conviction
and proper understanding why ethics in business and morals, and
conventions in society, have been established and reduced to definite
words by humanity, and why these things are a necessity. Mystics know
that it is not simply immoral to violate one of Natures ethical laws, but
a sin against oneself and against society, as well as a sin against cosmic
decree. Therefore, immorality or the violation of Natures laws in any
sense becomes abhorrent to the mystic.
The mystic realizes that the most beautiful of principles in
the universe can be reduced to corruption and perversion by the
undeveloped mind or the evil mind that dwells within the physical
part of a human being. The mystic realizes that while love is the one
universal law that is higher than all others, it must be a love that is
free from the contaminations of the physical self and free from the
sins of lust and selfishness. Mystics realize that while this great law of
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life makes it incumbent upon each of us to love all creatures and all
beings, and to love our neighbor as ourself, that to reduce this law to
the selfish or personal physical love of the lower part of oneself, in an
unbridled manner and with promiscuity, is to pervert a divine principle
to a coarse and vulgar application.
The laws of Karma and of cosmic compensation reveal to mystics
that they cannot do injustice to others, or take advantage of others, or
even live a dual existence, without bringing into their lives inevitable
suffering and sorrowful adjustment. Hence the mystics comprehension
of ethics and morality has a clear and more definite meaning to her or
him, and this elicits an obedience to cosmic law which humans are
reluctant to give to mundane laws or laws of human invention.
In the home, in business, in society, and in our personal affairs, each
of us must be true unto ourself, and this self must be the inner self, if
we are to be true at all. We must let the divine power within us dominate
the physical power of our body and the world around us. We must let
the beauty, the grandeur, and the sublime thoughts of the Divine Mind
of our being fill us with the inspiration and comprehension of our
real place in the universe and of our relationship to all other beings.
We must let the God Consciousness of our soul control and direct
the health and activities of the physical self so that it may truly be the
servant unto us, and not a master whipping us into submission and
earthly servility. In this way will we rise to power and glory and attain
the highest degree of success and happiness in all of the affairs of the
home and of the business world.
121
THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER, AMORC

Purpose and Work of the Order
The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, is a philosophical and initiatic
tradition. As students progress in their studies, they are initiated into
the next level or degree.
Rosicrucians are men and women around the world who study the
laws of nature in order to live in harmony with them. Individuals study
the Rosicrucian lessons in the privacy of their own homes on subjects
such as the nature of the soul, developing intuition, classical Greek
philosophy, energy centers in the body, and self-healing techniques.
The Rosicrucian tradition encourages each student to discover the
wisdom, compassion, strength, and peace that already reside within
each of us.
www.rosicrucian.org

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ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES

FOR THE HOME AND

1929, 1953, 1981 and 2015 Supreme Grand Lodge Of The

To the student of all natural and

The Truth About Affirmations

The Cosmic and You

Commanding Cosmic Help

The Attainment of Wealth

10. Impressing Others

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

OR MANY YEARS prominent business people in New York

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

THE TRUTH ABOUT

HE FRENCH PSYCHOLOGIST, mile Cou, did

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

THE COSMIC AND YOU

HERE ARE TWO universal ideas connected with the practical

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

NE OF THE most popular beliefs in the Western world

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

EAL MYSTICS KNOW that they must work through the

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

NE OF THE two most often desired gifts from the Cosmic

It is strange indeed that in the ultimate analysis of most

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ROSICRUCIAN PRINCIPLES FOR THE HOME & BUSINESS

ONTENTED IN LIFE, indeed, is the person who has no